A Western Slope-based immigrant advocacy group is urging Colorado's attorney general to look into communication and possible collaboration between local officials and Immigration and Customs Enforcement that may violate state laws.
Voces Unidas President and CEO Alex Sanchez filed two complaints on Aug. 14 with Attorney General Phil Weiser's office over incidents involving the Garfield County Sheriff's Office and the 14th Judicial District Attorney's Office, which covers Routt, Moffat and Grand counties.
Voces Unidas shared both complaints with the Summit Daily News.
Sanchez said the incidents, which involved some communication between those offices and ICE, raised concern because of state laws that restrict information sharing and coordination with federal immigration enforcement officials.
"Our organization has been hearing from community members in the Western Slope, in particular, about some of the distrust that they have with our local governments," Sanchez said in an interview.
Colorado lawmakers over the past several years have moved to limit ICE's reach in local communities, starting with a major law in 2019 that prohibits law enforcement from complying with ICE "detainers," which is a request by the federal agency to hold someone in jail past their release time so that they may be taken into federal custody.
That law also prevents law enforcement from sharing immigration-related information about an individual with ICE, and makes it illegal for local authorities to arrest someone just based on their immigration status.
Other laws passed in 2021 and 2025 block state agencies, judicial and legislative branches, as well as local governments, from sharing an individual's personal information with ICE, unless it is for a federal criminal investigation where a judge has issued a warrant. The 2025 law, Senate Bill 276, also carries a $50,000 fine per violation.
ICE activity has been top of mind for advocates as the federal government expands immigration enforcement operations across the country, including in Colorado's mountain towns. ICE is also reportedly planning to double its detention spaces this year with new facilities, including three planned in Colorado, according to reporting by The Washington Post.
Sanchez said it's important for state and local agencies not to be seen by the immigrant community as an extension of ICE, which he worries would have a chilling effect on people's participation with law enforcement. He said his organization is not interested in what a person's criminal charges are, just that state laws and due process are being upheld.
"What Voces Unidas is interested in is ensuring that we don't erode the public trust between the community and our local municipalities and local police departments," he said.
Both the Garfield County sheriff and the district attorney for the 14th Judicial District say they complied with state laws and deny any wrongdoing.
When reached for comment, Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario said he was unaware of the complaint filed against his office, while District Attorney Matt Karzen learned about the allegations against his office from a post Voces Unidas made on its website last week. The group also posted about the Garfield County incident.
Lawrence Pacheco, a spokesperson for Weiser's office, did not comment on the complaints.
The complaint lodged against Vallario's office centers around a man who was arrested and jailed in Garfield County on Aug. 8 and released later that day into ICE custody.
Sanchez said Voces Unidas spoke with the man's family after he'd been detained by ICE, and the organization called the jail in Glenwood Springs to confirm what happened. According to the complaint, they were told by a sheriff's deputy that the man had "bonded out" and was taken into ICE custody in the jail's sallyport, which is used for secure entrances and exits.
Sanchez said the incident "felt like the transfer of an inmate," which spurred suspicion from Voces Unidas that it could have violated restrictions on ICE collaboration. He said the man should have been allowed to leave the jail, after which point ICE could have detained him.
"He was not allowed to the freedom that he absolutely deserved because he was already bonded out," Sanchez said. "It wasn't like ICE was across the street and this was an encounter of chance."
Vallario said the man was charged with resisting arrest, a protection order violation, driving without a license, fictitious license plates, open containers for alcohol and marijuana, and driving without taillights. He said he isn't aware of any federal criminal charges against the man.
Vallario confirmed in a phone interview that the man was detained by ICE in the jail's sallyport and said there's "nothing that I'm aware of that prohibits us from making that transfer" in that area.
SB 276 does require public buildings like schools, libraries and child care centers to develop policies for giving ICE access to non-public spaces. But it does not prevent immigration officers from operating in private sections of government buildings, like jails, if given permission.
It is common practice for law enforcement to tell ICE when an inmate is going to be released from a jail, Vallario added. He said his office does not hold people for ICE or share information about their immigration status, which would be a violation of state law.
"Once they're released from custody, it is up to (ICE), whether or not they want to come and pick them up and hold them or not," Vallario said. "In this particular case, it appears they did."
Violeta Chapin, an immigration law professor at the University of Colorado School of Law in Boulder, said law enforcement officials can communicate with ICE about an inmate's release under state law.
She said ICE can also perform operations under "administrative warrants," which are signed by immigration officials, not a judge.
"Immigration officials are allowed to execute administrative warrants in public places, or, if they're given permission to enter (non-public spaces)," said Chapin, who has a background in assisting immigrants' legal cases as head of the university's pro bono immigration defense clinic.
Chapin added, however, that even if an agency like a sheriff's office is following the law, its actions can lead to a perception in the community that it's helping ICE with detainments.
"That will have consequences for how people in the community see local law enforcement," Chapin said.
Vallario has expressed frustration with the state's immigration laws, and earlier this year wrote a column explaining what his office is, and isn't, allowed to do under state laws.
Garfield County has also pushed back on claims of being a "sanctuary" community. Commissioners last year passed a resolution rejecting the term, which was condemned by local immigration leaders who called the resolution's language "divisive."
The resolution said people who enter the country illegally can pose a "significant public health and safety risk," tying them to increased crime, disease and demand on public infrastructure and services.
Sanchez's other complaint is against the 14th Judicial District Attorney's Office, which had received information from ICE about the potential detainment of a defendant in district court that was then discussed in a court hearing last month.
Court transcripts show that during a July 31 bond hearing in Steamboat Springs, Deputy District Attorney Joseph Bucci told Judge Erin Wilson he had "received information from the federal government that ICE has lodged a detainer against this defendant."
The defendant in the Steamboat Springs case, a woman, was arrested for theft and felony identity theft. She had been arrested alongside a man, who faces the same charges and also has charges of felony identity theft in Adams County, according to the district attorney's office.
All of those are state charges, and the district attorney's office said it is not aware of any federal charges or warrants.
Sanchez said information sharing with federal immigration officials is only allowed during federal criminal investigations, and questioned why the district attorney's office would be communicating with ICE to learn about a detainer and why it would be discussed during a bond hearing over state charges.
"Again, we need the public to trust local DAs. We need the public to be able to report crimes. We need the public to want to come to court," Sanchez said. "We need the system to work and to work for everyone."
Karzen, the district attorney, said asking ICE if a detainer has been lodged against a defendant is not the same as sharing immigration-related information with ICE. He said the practice is within state law and necessary for his office to do its job.
Karzen learned about the allegations made by Voces Unidas after a county commissioner reached out to his office to inquire about the post that was made on the advocacy group's website.
When reached for comment over email, Karzen shared an Aug. 13 email he'd sent to Routt County Attorney Lynaia South in which he explained the process for reaching out to ICE about detainers.
Karzen said his office has periodically gotten cases where the accused person has a criminal history that indicates they have previously been removed from the country by ICE.
"With the increase in immigration enforcement, we began to see cases where ICE detained the person but we did not know about it," meaning that person would not appear in court, Karzen wrote.
Karzen said his office has started to ask ICE when defendants are in their custody if they believe someone may have been detained and/or removed in the past, as noted in their criminal history. If someone is in ICE detention, Karzen said his office needs to know so they can adjust accordingly, such as obtaining a video court appearance from the defendant in an ICE facility.
In the Steamboat Springs case, Karzen said both defendants had identifications of prior detention and/or removals, and that the deputy district attorney needed to know if ICE was intending to detain and/or deport the defendants in the case so he could make decisions around bonds, a plea and sentencing agreement, or any victim interactions required under the Victims' Rights Act. He also said it is important for court scheduling and case management.
Karzen said asking ICE about the status of a defendant as it relates to detention is the extent of his office's interactions with the federal agency. He added that his office is requesting information, not providing it to ICE.
Chapin, the CU law professor, said she would argue that discussing someone's detainer in state court is irrelevant to their criminal proceedings. But she said prosecutors aren't prohibited from having or sharing that information in court.
In an emailed response to questions from the Summit Daily, Karzen called Voces Unidas' complaint against his office "profoundly disappointing," saying the group never reached out to his office "for comment, or to articulate their concerns or ask for an explanation."
"Voces Unidas appears to be an important vehicle of advocacy on the Western Slope in an area where such advocacy has perhaps never been more important," Karzen said, "and yet their lack of due diligence and apparent apathy as to the full truth regarding these matters is exactly the kind of thing that can destroy credibility."
Sanchez said Voces Unidas sent both complaints to the attorney general's office "so that they can actually review the facts, have conversations, and then make a determination whether in fact there was inappropriate behavior or not."
Sanchez said the enactment of SB 276 earlier this year provides local groups with an important tool for accountability since it carries, for the first time, fines for violations.
Whether the attorney general's office will act on the complaints is unclear. Pacheco, the spokesperson, declined to say how many complaints the office has received following the enactment of SB 276.
The law has, however, already sparked several legal battles, including a July 22 lawsuit filed by Weiser's office against a Mesa County Sheriff's Office deputy who allegedly shared information with federal immigration officials that led to the arrest of a Utah college student who had an expired visa.
Mesa County later countersued, claiming that the state law is too vague.
Another lawsuit was filed on June 4 against Gov. Jared Polis by Scott Moss, the head of the Colorado Division of Labor Standards and Statistics. Moss alleges that Polis sought to force his department to provide information to ICE regarding 35 state-vetted adult sponsors who were housing unaccompanied immigrant children.
Moss said the request from ICE was not backed by a court-issued warrant and that complying with it would violate the state's laws on information sharing.
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