This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at coloradosun.com.
Immigration agents accused of leaving ace of spades cards in the vehicles of men detained in Eagle County in January are “no longer involved in the field” while an investigation continues, according to a top official at the Denver field office.
“The officers involved in this incident are no longer involved in the field … and it’s an ongoing investigation,” said Gregory Davies, the assistant field office director for the Denver office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, at a federal court hearing Wednesday.
Davies is the third in command at the field office.
Davies’ in-court update on the investigation into the ace of spades cards, which have been used throughout history to intimidate people of color, comes after weeks without a public update about the investigation, despite requests from federal lawmakers from Colorado.
His testimony came during a hearing in the case in which lawyers for immigrants in Colorado are alleging ICE officers are violating a federal court order limiting warrantless arrests and asking a judge to intervene.
The immigration lawyers are trying to push back in court against the Trump administration’s mass deportation policy, which has resulted in a skyrocketing number of arrests and detentions, mostly of people who have no criminal record.
In targeted arrests near Minturn on Jan. 21, ICE agents boxed in the car of two brothers and their cousin as they were driving to work. The agents pulled the men from the car and arrested them without a warrant and without asking any questions, according to the complaint.
A day before Wednesday’s court hearing, Colorado Democrats in Congress again requested information about the investigation into the ace of spades cards. They want answers from fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem before her last day at the department, which is March 31.
After their first request for information in early February, Noem said in a letter to U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper’s office that ICE “takes allegations regarding professional misconduct seriously” and “does not comment on ongoing investigations,” according to the letter provided to The Sun by the senator’s office. The department said the investigation had been passed from the DHS Office of Inspector General to the Office of Professional Responsibility, which assigned the investigation to a field office.
The federal lawmakers wanted to know which field office is overseeing the investigation, saying that the department’s refusal to say “raises serious concerns about transparency and possible conflicts of interest.”
Staff writer Jennifer Brown contributed to this report.
