Caroline Dias Goncalves Wins Key Legal Victory Against ICE

20-year-old Goncalves was wrongfully detained by ICE after a traffic stop in Colorado

Hickenlooper hosted Goncalves as his guest for the State of the Union to highlight her case

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper welcomed the District Court decision to rebuke ICE's lawlessness and side with Caroline Dias Goncalves and the three other plaintiffs. Judge R. Brooke Jackson ruled that ICE has violated the injunction preventing ICE from making warrantless arrests without determining if someone is a flight risk or living in the country undocumented.

"Almost one ago, 20-year-old Dreamer Caroline Dias Goncalves was wrongfully detained by ICE after a traffic stop in Colorado," said Hickenlooper. "Today, she helped secure a major legal victory requiring ICE to retrain agents and curb unlawful arrests in Colorado. Caroline's courage helped hold ICE accountable. But it's not her responsibility. Republicans need to join Democrats in reining in ICE's lawlessness. Then we can finally begin to fix our broken immigration system."

Dias Goncalves is a 20-year-old Dreamer who was detained by ICE in Colorado last year and a student at the University of Utah. Last June, Dias Goncalves was pulled over during a traffic stop in Colorado, where she was arrested by ICE and detained in the Aurora ICE detention facility for 15 days. Dias Goncalves is a Dreamer and raised in the U.S. since she was seven years old. Hickenlooper, his office, and organizations like TheDream.US were involved in demanding answers from ICE about Dias Goncalves' arrest and ensuring that Dias Goncalves was released. Hickenlooper invited Goncalves to be his State of the Union Guest to highlight the cruelty of the President's immigration crackdown.

Watch the video they filmed together on Hickenlooper's Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Bluesky, and TikTok accounts.

Hickenlooper has been outspoken in the face of ICE's lawlessness and has voted against funding for ICE. He's demanded a top-to-bottom overhaul of the agency to stop ICE from terrorizing our communities.

He has consistently pushed for more oversight and transparency for federal immigration enforcement efforts, and has worked to help families desperately searching for loved ones arrested by ICE.

Hickenlooper has spoken on the Senate floor to denounce the horrifying killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, condemn the reports that families in Eagle County found "Death cards" left in the cars of family members taken by ICE agents, and to demand the overhaul of ICE.

He's shown up at ICE facilities to conduct congressional oversight visits and raise concerns about ICE disregarding due process. He helped launch an investigation into ICE's unlawful obstruction of congressional oversight and introduced bills to ban ICE from wearing masks, prevent immigration enforcement from targeting schools, hospitals, polling locations, and places of worship, and cut back the excessive funding that MAGA Republicans gave them.

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