ICE blasts Colorado’s new “sanctuary law” after illegal alien released from jail accused of attempted murder

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials on Wednesday blasted the newly enacted Colorado law that prevents local jails from keeping people in custody for ICE past their release dates, calling out the case of a Cuban immigrant [illegal alien] accused of attempted murder after being released from the Arapahoe County jail in October ...

But Arapahoe County sheriff’s officials say that not only has their policy on handling federal immigration requests not changed since 2014, they notified ICE three hours before Osmani Garces-Ortiz was released on bond.

Garces-Ortiz, 37, is in the United States illegally and had his bid for permanent residency denied because of his criminal history, according to ICE’s field office in Denver. He’s now facing charges he tried to kill someone while out on bond in an unrelated criminal case ...

Immigration detainers are written requests for local jails to hold an inmate for up to an additional 48 hours beyond their scheduled release, allowing ICE agents to decide whether to take the person into custody so that he or she can be placed in immigration detention while the agency initiates removal proceedings ...

In Arapahoe County, Line said, any administrative detainer requests from ICE are noted in the inmate’s file. Before the person is scheduled to be released, jail officials notify ICE, and ICE agents can contact the person in the jail’s public lobby. They are not custody transfers, Line said, and the jail has operated that way for the past five years ...

Warrants, however, are not administrative like detainer requests, and House Bill 1124 takes that into account.

“We would honor that like any other warrant because it would provide a legal reason for (transferring) custody,” Line said. ICE, however, did not have a signed warrant for Garces-Ortiz.

No legal mechanism exists for a judge to issue a criminal warrant for an administrative immigration arrest and sanctuary policies don’t recognize federal jurisdiction to enforce immigration law, as mandated by Congress, according to ICE ...

CAIRCO Research

Dem Colorado Gov. Polis Implements Sanctuary State Policy for Illegal Aliens, Denver Post Wednesday, June 12, 2019