DENVER — A federal judge in Denver says immigration agents involved in the violent arrest of an 18 year old should be punished for violating a court order, and the federal government should release the teenager and pay his medical bills.

U.S. District Court Judge R. Brooke Jackson wrote in a recent filing that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents “assaulted” the 18-year-old, who is identified in the case only by his initials, when they pulled him from the passenger seat of a truck at a Colorado 7-Eleven last month. The teenager was shoved to the ground, where an agent allegedly beat him and pounded “his face against the pavement,” according to a sworn statement from another man arrested with him.

The teenager, who was driving with two relatives to work, sustained a black eye and cuts to his forehead, according to pictures attached to prior legal filings. His wrist was also broken during his arrest, the filings allege.

In addition to sanctioning the officers and paying off any medical bills, Jackson told the agency that officials should also release the teenager if he was still in custody. The judge did not specify who should do the sanctioning or punishment of the officers.

Jackson’s comments, filed in federal court last week, suggested punishment for ICE agents in two arrests, and they come as part of a nearly yearlong dispute between ICE and a coalition of attorneys led by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado over ICE’s practice of conducting warrantless arrests.

In court filings about the 7-Eleven incident, the Department of Homeland Security’s attorneys wrote that the truck “rammed” an ICE vehicle. In sworn statements, the teenager and the other man arrested that morning said they were backing up to leave the store when ICE arrived.

Their truck “lightly hit something” behind them, both men wrote, and they were both pulled from the vehicle.

Jackson also told ICE that agents involved in another arrest — in which they mistakenly pulled over a man and arrested him even after he told them that their warrant was for someone else — should also be sanctioned. He said ICE should also release that man from custody.

“The mistaken identity was not reasonable, the follow up conduct was not reasonable, and the warrantless arrest violated the Court’s enforcement order,” Jackson wrote. He said his comments were his opinion on allegations made by the attorneys representing the immigrants.

Attorneys for the ACLU coalition sued ICE in October 2025, alleging the agency was serially violating the law by arresting immigrants who lacked proper legal status with neither a warrant nor the basis to arrest someone without a warrant. Jackson has twice ordered ICE to follow the law and either get a warrant or follow specific steps to determine if an arrest is necessary.

Then, in August, the ACLU alleged that ICE was again violating Jackson’s orders, including in the violent arrest of the teenager.

In his response last week, Jackson agreed that at least three arrests appeared to violate his order and that ICE was not turning over all of the records to the ACLU that Jackson had earlier required.

“ICE agents continue to act with brutality and unwarranted cruelty and violence against immigrants across Colorado,” Tim Macdonald, the legal director for the ACLU of Colorado, said in a statement Friday. “We are gratified that the court is holding them to account.”

Spokespeople for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not respond to an email seeking comment Friday.

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