Two dozen people rallied outside the detention facility in Aurora to call for the release of Carla Medina, a Honduran mother of two who has been detained for more than six months after delivering a DoorDash order to Buckley Space Force Base. Although she won her asylum case Thursday, Medina remains in federal custody for now.
Still, she and her supporters considered the judge’s decision to be a victory.
“I’m still in shock,” Medina said to the crowd over a video call from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. “I’m going to be able to reunite with my family very soon.”
The news conference took place on the same day as her asylum hearing in immigration court. Medina’s lawyer, Andrew Younkins, said she won her case, but the government reserved the right to appeal on a single issue: whether there were extraordinary circumstances as to why Medina’s asylum application was not filed within one year of entry.
He said the judge found that such circumstances were present. But the move means Medina may be held for at least 30 more days, if not longer, depending on whether the government files an appeal.
The court’s decision had not been updated online by the Executive Office for Immigration Review as of 7:30 p.m. Thursday, according to public case information.
Medina told The Denver Post in an interview from the ICE facility last month that she left Honduras in 2023 out of fear of domestic violence and threats made by her ex-husband. Medina said her family also sought to flee gang violence, and her husband, Pablo Acosta, 29, was escaping political persecution.
They entered the country using CBP One, a mobile app offered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, to schedule an appointment at a port of entry to seek asylum.
As of Thursday evening, Medina still sat in the ICE detention center. She was first detained by federal immigration officials Oct. 23 while delivering a DoorDash order to Buckley, she said. According to Medina, she was in the asylum process and had her work permit on the day she was picked up.
She said that after she was stopped by security officers at the gate, ICE officers arrived, and she was detained. She said officers told her that she had a deportation order, but Medina hasn’t seen it to date.
ICE did not respond to inquiries by The Post asking why Medina was detained.
The American Friends Service Committee and Aurora Unidos CSO — the social justice organizations behind the Thursday news conference — noted in a news release that Medina worked as a nurse for 12 years in Honduras.
They referenced an earlier incident when Medina had been “wrongfully arrested” in Aurora on April 22, 2024, and the charges against her were dismissed on Oct. 31. AFSC’s program director, Jennifer Piper, declined to provide further context around the prior arrest and dismissal.
Acosta and their two children, Gimena and Mateo, are hoping for Medina’s release — sooner than later. They have their own asylum hearings pending in the coming months.
“Just how we won today, many victories are yet to come,” Acosta said in Spanish through a translator. “It’s not just us fighting against this.”
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