A federal judge in Colorado has barred President Donald Trump’s administration from transferring detained illegal immigrants out of the state.
U.S. District Court Judge Charlotte Sweeney on Tuesday granted a temporary restraining order for the plaintiffs to keep them in the district. The two plaintiffs are alleged to be members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and are being held at an ICE holding facility in Denver.
🚨 Colorado Judge blocks Trump from removing illegal aliens under the Alien Enemies Act, citing the Supreme Court, and says he is wrong to declare an "invasion" pic.twitter.com/qw9ZD9xUpD
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 22, 2025
The Trump administration has designated the gang a foreign terrorist organization and cited the Alien Enemies Act of 1789 to detain and deport alleged members in the U.S. illegally.
“Respondents shall not move Petitioners and members of the provisionally certified class outside the District of Colorado,” said Sweeney in her order, which expires on May 6. She also directed the government to provide 21 days notice to “petitioners and members of the provisionally certified class detained” before removal.
Sweeney in her order cited a U.S. Supreme Court order from last weekend in a Texas case that directed the Trump administration to “not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order.”
The Trump administration is facing multiple lawsuits and court battles over its detainments and deportations of illegal immigrants, most notably Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a suspected MS-13 gang member deported to the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador.
The Trump administration has maintained Garcia’s connection to MS-13 and suspects him of human trafficking despite the ongoing court battle for his release and return to the U.S.
“Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a MS-13 gang member, illegal alien from El Salvador, and suspected human trafficker. The facts reveal he was pulled over with eight individuals in a car on an admitted three-day journey from Texas to Maryland with no luggage,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement last week. “The facts speak for themselves, and they reek of human trafficking. The media’s sympathetic narrative about this criminal illegal gang member has completely fallen apart. We hear far too much about the gang members and criminals’ false sob stories and not enough about their victims.”
