A Guardian investigation and a Colorado Times Recorder review found ICE increasingly detains people in small holding facilities for days or weeks, violating federal policy, with detention times rising sharply after a June 2025 rule change allowing up to three days. Data show more than 3,000 people were held in nine such facilities across Colorado last year, including two Nicaraguan men kept 39 and 36 days in Denver, a 31-year-old man held 34 days in Frederick, and several men held 12 to 19 days in Pueblo. In March 2026, six Colorado members of Congress, including Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper and Reps. Diana DeGette, Joe Neguse, Jason Crow and Brittany Pettersen, sent a letter to ICE's acting director demanding the practice stop immediately; Neguse said he was unable to gain access when he attempted to inspect a facility in Glenwood Springs.