Colorado Newsline reported ICE held protected T-visa applicant 120+ days, then released him out of state without ID

Colorado Newsline reported on August 31, 2026 that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement held Rudy Villeda Mejía, 47, at its detention facility in Aurora, Colorado, for more than 120 days despite his falling under a May 2026 federal court order that barred ICE from detaining immigrants with pending applications for a T visa, a protection for victims of human trafficking. ICE arrested Villeda Mejía, a Honduran national who has lived in the U.S. since 2010, at Denver International Airport on March 30, 2026, and held him in Aurora until early August, when it transported him to a "staging facility" in Louisiana — ICE's final stop before deporting someone, according to his attorney, Henry Hollithron.

Shortly after Villeda Mejía arrived in Louisiana, U.S. District Judge Regina Rodriguez ordered his release and barred ICE from re-detaining him absent a hearing establishing he was a flight risk or danger to the community. But ICE released him in Louisiana without the passport and work permit he needed to fly home, which remained in Colorado. His family and Hollithron's office spent days trying to locate him as ICE gave conflicting information — one family member was told he remained in Aurora, while ICE moved him through facilities in Arizona, Texas, and three different Louisiana towns before his wife was able to reach him. "We're sure he's in Louisiana somewhere. We just don't know where in Louisiana he actually is, because the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing," Hollithron said. ICE's Denver Field Office declined to answer Newsline's questions about the transport or its retention of his documents.

Villeda Mejía's wife flew to Louisiana and the couple drove back to Washington state together; he later recovered his passport and work permit with help from the office of U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen. His attorney and stepson said the months in custody left him with new back pain and a flare-up of Bell's palsy symptoms after he went without his medication while detained.