Judge orders release of Ugandan priest detained in Aurora ICE center for 13 months

Seth Klamann, The Denver Post on Oct 20, 2026

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DENVER — A federal judge has ordered immigration officials to immediately release a retired Ugandan priest who has been held in an Aurora detention center for more than a year.

The Rev. Edward Nalwamba was scheduled to be released before the end of the day on Tuesday under an order issued Monday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Cyrus Y. Chung. Chung found that federal officials had not provided any certainty that they could remove him to his East African home country, from which he fled more than two decades ago.

Supporters had initially expected the 78-year-old retired priest to be released early Tuesday morning but were still awaiting his exit from the detention center several hours later.

“Obviously, we’re so thrilled and relieved that he’s being released,” his attorney, Joy Athanasiou, said. She criticized immigration authorities for detaining the priest, who was arrested in September 2025 while driving to provide care for a disabled man.

“The only people who are supposed to be detained are people who are a danger to the community, or a flight risk,” Athanasiou said. “And the fact that the Trump administration has twisted detention in the way that they have is just shocking.”

Nalwamba — known to friends and Anglican congregants as Father Edward — has been detained since his arrest last year. His health has deteriorated significantly, as friends and former congregants have rallied to his cause and searched for ways to secure his release. U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper visited him over the summer, and his supporters strategized ways to contact the White House to plead for help.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials repeatedly attempted to deport Nalwamba to Uganda in recent months, despite his attorney’s warnings that he would be persecuted if he returned there. Nalwamba has been in the United States since 2002, when he arrived for a religious conference and never left; he had publicly opposed Uganda’s authoritarian regime and had subsequently been targeted by government officials.

He was arrested and released by immigration authorities in 2010, and he had been living under supervised release until he was arrested again in September 2025.

In June, ICE officials told a federal judge that Nalwamba’s deportation was imminent. Soon after, he was told authorities would release him, which prompted cheers from other detainees, Athanasiou said.

Instead, she said, he was taken to a room and pressured to a sign a document that ICE agents would not let him or his attorney review. She added that agents threatened to deport him in shackles if he refused. They tried the same tactic in late July, and they later told the federal magistrate that his deportation was again imminent.

The repeated delays prompted Chung to order Nalwamba’s immediate release.

“Today, there is still no removal,” he wrote. “There is not even a concrete plan for one. Instead, (ICE officials) present a declaration that ‘ICE is working on scheduling’ the charter flight that it had previously said was imminent. That will not do.”

While his release is a relief to his attorneys and friends, Nalwamba’s time in detention has come at a cost. During his 13 months in Aurora, said Athanasiou and others familiar with his case, his health problems included developing pneumonia and losing more than 20 pounds in two weeks. He now uses a wheelchair and has been ill with an undiagnosed respiratory infection since early June.

Athanasiou said Nalwamba showed signs of prostate cancer early this year but had not seen a specialist for months. He tested positive for tuberculosis last year, she said, but a subsequent X-ray in the spring showed no active infection; she said positive skin tests were common for people previously vaccinated against the illness. His latest respiratory issue began just as another detainee tested positive for tuberculosis in the June.

“We’re hopeful that he’ll regain some of his strength,” Athanasiou said. “Obviously, I’m super worried that he’s deteriorated so much that he’s just in a much more medically compromised position. … It’s heartbreaking.”

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