Over the past year Colorado Latino advocacy organization Voces Unidas has collected civil rights complaints from residents of Garfield County. According to a recent article published by the Voces Unidas Action Fund, over the past year, nine people have disappeared from the Garfield County jail only to later resurface in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement - or ICE - detention facility in Aurora, Colorado. The group’s findings indicate that in nine out of ten documented cases, jail records show each individual as “released”, when in reality, ICE agents were allowed to enter the jail and take them into custody. Alex Sánchez, President and CEO of Voces Unidas, believes these actions are against state laws which disallow local law enforcement from holding people for federal immigration purposes.
"It wasn't as if ICE agents were outside the county jail and they tackled people as they exited a public building in the sidewalk, and they had an encounter there of chance [with] ICE agents. We have documented,based on testimony from impacted families and impacted individuals in documentation and public records, that ICE agents are allowed to come in to the jail We don't know what happens inside that jail, but certainly ICE agents are in secure jail facilities and individuals are never allowed to be free, which we believe that's inconsistent with state law"
These community members, whose ages range from 22 to 42, bonded out or were ordered released by a judge. But they never left.
"Family members waiting outside, family members being told by jail staff that their, their, you know, their loved ones are minutes away from being released, yet they never showed up."
Sánchez says that this constitutes a transfer of custody, which is illegal under Colorado statute.
" They're literally inside locked doors and ICE is allowed to come in, in a secure area and detain them there. That feels to us more like a transfer. This is what it used to happen all the time when it be, when it was legal to do so?
State Bill 25-276 passed last year, expressly prohibits a jail from delaying a defendant's release for the purpose of an immigration enforcement operation.
"Colorado has passed a variety of state laws that prohibit ICE holds. That's what they were sort of called. They were administrative holds within the jail. IXW would call the jail and say, 'Hey, we have an ICE hold, or we have an administrative warrant for this individual. Can you hold them for us?' So that became illegal in the state of Colorado several years ago. And in essence what the Garfield County Jail, we believe, is they're doing basically the same thing without calling it an ICE hold.”
60-year-old Luis Armando Rivas Martinez lived in the U.S since the 2000s. His was the tenth case obtained by Voces Unidas. Rivas Martinez was detained by Garfield County Sheriff’s deputies in the Walmart parking lot in Glenwood Springs on June 3, 2025, without a judicial warrant. Sánchez says that deputies drove him to a gas station in DeBeque, fifty-five miles west of Glenwood Springs, and handed him over to immigration officers who were waiting.
"A resident of Glenwood Springs was at the Walmart's parking lot in Glenwood and two deputies of the Garfield County Sheriff's Office, in their vehicles, detained someone for the sole purpose of ICE enforcement. He had not committed any federal crimes."
In a case report by Garfield County’s Special Problems Enforcement and Response Task Force Officer Nate LaGiglia states that a federal special agent had asked local law enforcement for assistance to transport Rivas Martinez. The report also states that Rivas Martinez was wanted for federal charges, but Voces Unidas’ search of public records found no warrants. Colorado House Bill 1124, prohibits law enforcement from arresting someone on the sole basis of a civil immigration detainer. Rivas Martinez has since been deported to Mexico.
Sánchez says that the harm inflicted on the immigrant and Latino community in Garfield County could be immeasurable.
"We have worked so hard in the state of Colorado to ensure that this is the, the, the, the Colorado and communities that we wanted to build. And unfortunately, Garfield County Government and Garfield County Sheriff have undermined decades and decades of goodwill and work as a community, and now because of their actions, members of my community may not call 911."
KDNK attempted to contact the ICE field office in Glenwood Springs on the afternoon of February 20th, but no one answered the phone. The Sopris Sun and KDNK reached out to the Garfield County Sheriff's Office regarding allegations of inmates being turned over to ICE within the jail upon their supposed release. Records Manager Kiyvon Nye responded that they “[do] not track individuals or other agency involvement after the individual has bonded or otherwise leaves the custody of the Garfield County Jail,” adding, “no records exist to quantify” the claim.
Voces Unidas has called on Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser to investigate the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office for possible violations of state laws prohibiting local law enforcement from collaborating with federal immigration enforcement. Another state bill, passed in 2020, gives him the authority to investigate and pursue action against law enforcement agencies suspected of civil rights violations. The AG’s office declines to comment on ongoing investigations. KDNK will continue to cover this story. Community members can report any suspected civil rights violations to the Voces Unidas hotline at 970-340-8586.
