Marivel Azpeitia was driving from their home in Colorado Springs to Dallas with her fiancé to pick up her stepchildren for Christmas when the pair was pulled over by Texas law enforcement.

It would be some of the last moments Azpeitia would see her fiancé, Edwin Euceda-Rios, on U.S. soil. It would also be the beginning of weeks of alleged mistreatment during detainment for Euceda-Rios, the couple claims.

Euceda-Rios, a 30-year-old undocumented immigrant from Honduras who was raised in the country as a kid by U.S. citizens, is one of thousands in Colorado who have been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in 2025, which was a year for the history books when it came to immigration-related arrests.

In Colorado, data shows over 3,000 arrests were made by ICE through mid-October this year, according to data available through the Deportation Data Project. The project obtains federal government data through Freedom of Information Act requests and publicly available ICE data and posts them online. The data includes information about arrests and detentions in Colorado until Oct. 15 of this year. 

The number of arrests in Colorado is over four times that of the same time period in the last year of the Biden administration.

In mid August, The Gazette submitted their own FOIAs to ICE, asking them several questions pertaining to immigration activity in Colorado. The request is still listed as “pending” at the time of publishing this story.

Arrested for an unconfirmed outstanding warrant

What seemed like a routine traffic stop in Memphis, TX, due to a broken brake light quickly escalated after Euceda-Rios didn’t present a driver’s license to the deputy and identified himself with a picture of his passport instead.

After that, the deputy asked Euceda-Rios to step out of the car, Azpeitia said.

It was then that they were informed by the deputy that Euceda-Rios unknowingly had a outstanding warrant for his arrest.  

One thing led to another, and soon both would be sitting outside while the couple’s vehicle was searched. The officer would find a small bag of marijuana legally purchased in Colorado Springs. Euceda-Rios uses the drug for pain relief after he broke his back doing construction work a few years prior, his fiancé said.  

“I’m sitting there holding him because I had a feeling this was going to happen. Like this was our last moment holding on to each other,” Azpeitia said with emotion heavy in her voice. 

Euceda-Rios was not arrested on the alleged outstanding warrant, his fiancé says, but was booked on a possession charge, which was dismissed pending the ICE hold. 

The Hall County Sheriff’s Office in Memphis told The Gazette that Euceda-Rios has no warrants in the Texas Crime Information Center and the National Crime Information Center. Both systems are used by law enforcement as local and national databases, respectively.

To this day, Azpeitia says she has yet to see the warrant or learn much more about it.

“He’s nowhere near a criminal. He doesn’t even keep his dogs in cages. He wouldn’t hurt a fly,” Azpeitia said. “Edwin is not a violent person; he’s actually quite the opposite.”

According to reporting from CBS, data published by ICE shows that non-criminal detainees arrested by immigration officers have surged by 2,000% since Trump took office.

Azpeitia said she “absolutely” felt targeted during the traffic stop due to the couple’s race and appearance.  

“Edwin is Hispanic, he has an accent, he has tattoos on his neck, he has tattoos on his arms,” Azpeitia said. “As soon as they saw that he didn’t have physical forms of identification, that’s when they came back and asked him to step out of the car.” 

After bailing out of Hall County jail in Memphis, Euceda-Rios was taken by ICE a day later on Christmas Eve. Ever since, he’s been transported to three separate ICE facilities — one in Texas, another in Oklahoma and his last in Louisiana — before he voluntarily self-deported back to Honduras on Friday, according to Azpeitia.

A search using ICE’s inmate locator database shows he was in the Jackson Parish Correctional Center in Louisiana before his deportation.

A marriage proposal during detainment 

The couple met in Colorado Springs through Facebook dating in September 2023 and fell in love instantly, only having two dates before jumping in with two feet and moving in together. Azpeitia said Euceda-Rios planned to officially propose this year, and ended up asking for her hand while in custody.

“It sucks it had to be that way,” Azpeitia said. “This thing that was supposed to be a special thing, kind of played out in a completely different way … I feel like our experience was robbed.”

Azpeitia said the pair wanted to self-deport because they don’t have the finances to fight the legal battles, and her fiancé wants to shorten his time as much as possible after several negative experiences in custody.

During his stay at Bluebonnet, an ICE facility in Texas, Euceda-Rios claims he witnessed an elderly man get beaten by guards after the detainee was pulled from the shower following a dispute.

“They choked him, they beat him, they kicked him and they took him out strapped to a bed bleeding,” Euceda-Rios says in an audio recording given to The Gazette by Azpeitia. 

Following the alleged incident, Euceda-Rios and four others decided they would testify on the man’s behalf. The Honduran national claims guards threatened to throw tear gas inside their overflowing pod of more than 50 inmates in an effort to silence them.  

When that didn’t work, the five were put in “the hole” then transferred to the Diamondback facility in Oklahoma two days later. Euceda-Rios believes this was punishment for speaking out.

After hearing this, Azpeitia says Bluebonnet would pick up the phone, then immediately hang up whenever she called. 

Upon transferring to the newly reopened Diamondback facility, Azpeitia said that her fiancé was held for 24 hours with no food, wasn’t given medical care for 48 hours while being ill, wasn’t given recreational time and he had no heating in his cell, which was still in solitary confinement. He also claims that he was denied the ability to contact his attorney, and funds weren’t properly transferred to his account for phone calls.

Azpeitia submitted a complaint to CoreCivic, an American private prison operator that owns the Diamondback facility, and they denied the allegations, an email seen by The Gazette shows.

The Gazette has reached out to ICE officials regarding the allegations. A spokesperson said in a email they were looking into it but has not followed up after nearly two weeks since the request.

“It’s really sad that people like him are willing to just be deported than to fight the situation, because nobody wants to stay in these detention centers with the conditions that they’re in,” Azpeitia said.

According to news outlet NOTUS, private prison companies like CoreCivic have had several claims of mistreatment to their immigration detainees, even as business booms in the industry. Last year was also one of the deadliest years for detainees in ICE custody, the outlet reported.

An October investigation released by Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, uncovered that from January to August, there were 85 credible reports of medical neglect and 82 credible reports of detainees lacking access to adequate food or water in these facilities.

While not ideal, Azpeitia said her fiancé is happy to be back in Honduras, adding that she plans to follow him even though that means leaving her life and family behind.

Colorado officials weigh in

In May, President Donald Trump set a quota of 3,000 deportations a day, prompting a storm of ICE activity across the country that led to several protests and organizations created in an attempt to halt efforts. In late October, the Department of Homeland Security issued a news release stating that more than 527,000 people believed to be illegal immigrants have been deported. Another 1.6 million reportedly self-deported.

While several news outlets, including The Guardian and Reuters, have disputed those numbers, it still stands that the number of people in ICE detention have spiked by around 70% since Trump took office, according to reporting from Reuters.

Local officials have issued statements on the increased ICE activity in the region.  

“The Trump Administration has put focus on enforcing federal immigration laws to protect our communities and push back against the sanctuary policies embraced by Denver and other cities across the country,” said Rep. Jeff Crank, R-Colorado Springs. “I have faith this will continue.” 

Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade, who immigrated from Nigeria, says that immigrants play an essential role in the U.S., writing in an emailed statement that they “are an essential part of that strength and of the vitality of our community.” 

“As President Ronald Reagan once said, ‘We lead the world because … we draw our people, our strength, from every country and every corner of the world.’ That truth still stands,” Mobolade stated. “For that reason, I will always support lawful immigration processes and work to ensure that Colorado Springs remains a safe, welcoming and lawful city for everyone who calls it home.” 

The city will “continue to cooperate with federal partners in the apprehension of violent criminals, regardless of immigration status,” Mobolade said. 

“At the same time, I do not support raids on law-abiding migrants. We can be a city that upholds the law while also honoring the dignity of every person. Those values are not in conflict; they are foundational to who we are,” Mobolade stated.

Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper wrote in a Substack article that the Trump administration has “done everything they can to obstruct congressional oversight of ICE.”

“Our office has been working tirelessly to help many families desperately searching for loved ones arrested by ICE. For months, ICE has ignored our questions, dodged our emails and stonewalled our calls,” Hickenlooper wrote.

The El Paso County Board of Commissioners said it “has observed how sanctuary policies and weak border enforcement have contributed to rising threats in the community and commends the increased federal presence in the region.” 

“Informally, the Board has observed increased enforcement efforts since President Trump’s reelection and welcomes his commitment to prioritizing public safety and upholding the rule of law,” the board collectively stated in an email.  

Looking into the future, the board said it hopes to see additional coordination among federal, state and local agencies.

Known ICE activity in Colorado

As part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, the Pikes Peak Region has been no stranger to ICE raids and arrests in 2025.    

Often shrouded in secrecy and riding off the backs of other agency efforts, several major raids happened in Colorado, including in Colorado Springs and its surrounding communities.    

Nightclub raid  

After an early morning raid at an illegal nightclub, located at 296 S. Academy Blvd., the whereabouts of 86 people detained in the April 27 operation remain unknown. The most recent Gazette reporting had the official number of arrests sitting at 104.   

An ICE spokesperson told The Gazette at the time that 18 out of the 104 people arrested had previously been ordered to be deported and were “subject to a final order of removal.” 

It is unknown where the remaining 86 individuals with no deportation orders are, and if they have already been removed from the U.S.  

Steffan Tubbs, a spokesperson for DEA Rocky Mountain, declined to comment on several questions The Gazette asked, including what has happened to the 86 people. 

ICE has not replied to several requests made by The Gazette about the incident.   

As part of the FOIA requests made by The Gazette, a specific request asking for a list of detainees and the detention centers to which they were sent was denied.  

“Regarding your request, please be advised that we have decided to neither confirm nor deny the existence of such records pursuant to Exemptions 6 & 7(C) of the FOIA,” a letter response from ICE read.  

“Even to acknowledge the existence of law enforcement records on another individual could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”  

A request asking for a copy of the signed search warrant for 296 S. Academy Blvd. yielded a nearly identical letter.

Only three individuals are facing criminal charges following the raid, the Gazette found. Juan Gabriel Orona-Rodriguez, a soldier stationed at Fort Carson, is facing one federal count for distribution and another for possession with intent to distribute, connected to his alleged involvement in cocaine distribution. Court records show he was part of a security firm that operated out of the raided nightclub, alongside others in the area.     

As of January, no charges have been brought against Warike Events, the event company tied to the raided nightclub or Virginia Thorne, the lessee at the time of the raid.  

Black Forest raid  

On July 31, shots rang out in the 8300 block of David Rudabaugh Drive in the Timber Ridge housing development at around 9:42 a.m. The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office would issue a shelter-in-place order about an hour later.  

ICE officials later stated the reason behind the order was that two suspects believed to be in the U.S. illegally were hiding in the area after a man allegedly tried to ram a dark green Dodge Ram into a federal agent.  

A federal agent fired three shots into the bed of the truck while it drove off, and an investigation has since been underway to determine whether the agent involved lawfully fired the weapon.  

A spokesperson from the FBI’s office in Denver told The Gazette in early August that the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General is leading the investigation into the shooting. The office has not responded to several inquiries about the investigation since.  

Authorities arrested a man they say was sitting in the passenger seat, Francisco Zapata-Pacheco, just hours after the shooting, immigration officials confirmed at the time. An ICE spokesperson said Zapata-Pacheco was granted a voluntary removal to Mexico since his arrest.  

The driver, Jose Mendez-Chavez, is considered a fugitive by ICE following the July 31 incident.   

“Jose Mendez-Chavez is still at large, no further updates,” an ICE spokesperson stated in an email to The Gazette in late December.  

What happened before the shooting and why immigration officers were there in the first place is still unclear. Witnesses told The Gazette at the time that authorities arrested other people at the housing development, and no one has seen them since.  

ICE has not confirmed if there were other arrests made during the Black Forest operation or what they were doing there in the first place, despite being asked on multiple occasions.  

“With(out) a name, DOB, or A#, ICE cannot provide details on those who may have been arrested,” an ICE spokesperson stated in an email.   

What also remains unclear is whether or not the pair are facing criminal charges related to the July incident, despite one of them still being considered a fugitive.   

The U.S. District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on these unknowns following a December inquiry from The Gazette.   

Apartment complex in eastern Colorado Springs raid  

In August, the DEA executed two search warrants at an apartment complex in eastern Colorado Springs upon allegations that it was being used to distribute drugs by Mexican cartel members, the agency said. Five people were arrested on suspicion of “immigration violations” and were transferred to ICE to an unknown location.  

ICE has not gotten back to several requests made by The Gazette about the incident.    

According to DEA, the raid on the Village East Apartments on Hathaway Drive resulted in a handgun and “distribution amounts” of fentanyl pills, methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin being seized. Agents also reportedly found a “large amount of money” in the apartments.    

The Village East Apartments, near Platte Avenue and Powers Boulevard, declined to provide a statement on the arrests and alleged drug crimes taking place at the complex at the time.   

Colorado Springs Mexican restaurant raids  

Also in August, DEA agents raided two Colorado Springs Mexican restaurants suspected of profiting from illegal drug trafficking. 

During the operation, at least 20 agents flooded into the locations, named El Ranchito and El Ranchito No. 2. The DEA claimed the restaurant-grocery stores were profiting from illegal drug trafficking and/or “enabled” the laundering of “illicit proceeds.”  

But David Garcia, the owner’s son, says his family was not selling drugs or laundering money. Instead, the family was helping the Latino community send money to families abroad. Along with taking several thousand dollars, phones and laptops, four employees were detained and taken into unmarked cars.  

Garcia told The Gazette that their cook, Jose Luis Aguilar, was taken to an ICE facility in Aurora. A butcher was also arrested, and the owners hadn’t heard from him since. The other two were reportedly let go.  

ICE has not gotten back to several requests made by The Gazette about the incident.

Ever since, the businesses have been operating as usual.

Other encounters involving ICE across Colorado 

A late-January drug trafficking raid of a “makeshift nightclub” at a warehouse in Adams County resulted in 49 arrests. According to drug enforcement and immigration officials, 41 were illegally residing in the U.S. Many of them were affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, officials said at the time. 

The first week in February brought several more immigration raids to the metro Denver area that came with more than 90 arrests. According to prior Gazette reporting, once again, ICE, DEA and the FBI didn’t provide much detail. 

In late September, ICE agents drew weapons and smashed a car window while a child was inside to detain a man, Jose de Jesus Aguilera-Bautista, leaving a courthouse in Alamosa, according to reporting from Gazette news partner 9News. He was transferred to the ICE facility in Aurora. 

In late October, ICE agents arrested a father, Fernando Jaramillo-Solano, and his two children in Durango and then transferred them to facilities in Texas.

At the time, Durango Police said officers attempted a welfare check on one of the children after receiving a report of possible abuse by federal agents, but were denied entry to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Durango, according to previous Gazette reporting.

The incident sparked a protest at the ICE office in the small city, where a widely circulated video shows a masked agent allegedly shoving a protester to the ground. 

The encounter prompted the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to launch an investigation into the alleged assault.