“I Need the Wheelchair”: GEO Guards Confiscate 78-Year-Old Priest’s Wheelchair at Aurora ICE Gate, Leaving Fellow Detainees to Carry Him Out

When 78-year-old Reverend Edward Nalwamba was finally granted his freedom from the GEO Group-operated Aurora ICE Processing Center on October 20, 2026, after 13 months of detention, he could no longer walk on his own. Despite explicit assurances from ICE to U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper’s office that the frail priest would be wheeled all the way to the street, private prison staff stopped at the facility gate and refused to let the wheelchair go any further.

When Nalwamba asked if his ride could pull up to the gate, the guard said no. When he asked how he was supposed to reach the car, the officer replied, “I don’t know, I want the wheelchair”. Stripped of his mobility aid, Nalwamba had to be physically carried out of the compound in the arms of two fellow detainees who were being released alongside him.

...

### 13 Months of Medical Neglect

Before ICE locked him up in September 2025, Nalwamba was healthy, active, and independent. According to his attorney, Joy Athanasiou, and Nalwamba’s own account, he exercised regularly, could do 15 to 20 push-ups, and played ping-pong.

Over 13 months inside the GEO Group facility, his health collapsed:

* In January 2026, he contracted pneumonia, lost more than 30 pounds in just two and a half weeks, and physically collapsed in custody.

* Despite a documented tuberculosis outbreak inside the Aurora facility and medical records showing elevated PSA levels indicating potential prostate cancer, his legal team reported that GEO medical staff largely brushed off his severe respiratory distress with basic cough medicine.

* By August 2026, he was malnourished, suffering from severe chest and head pains from persistent coughing, and confined to a wheelchair after suffering falls.

### Ordered Free by a Federal Judge

Nalwamba’s legal team filed a federal habeas corpus petition challenging his prolonged, indefinite detention. On October 19, 2026, U.S. Magistrate Judge Cyrus Y. Chung ordered his immediate release, ruling that federal officials had failed to provide any certainty that they could actually deport him to Uganda.

Released back under the exact same Order of Supervision he held before his 13-month ordeal, Nalwamba is now seeking outside medical care for ongoing chest pain, coughing, and dizziness. Reflecting on his detention and the cruelty at the gate, Nalwamba called the experience “inhumane” and “terrible,” asking,

**“I am back to where I was when they first arrested me. So I was asking myself, ‘Why did they arrest me in the first place?’”**