DENVER — A video of armed men knocking on an apartment door in Aurora played over and over again on national news. Months before that video was taken, one of those men was in the Larimer County jail.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told 9NEWS they told local authorities they wanted to take the man into federal custody, but, the agency said, the jail didn't give them a heads up before his release on bond.
A Colorado state law is likely why.
Niefred Jose Serpa-Acosta was arrested in Larimer County for felony theft. ICE said they sent the sheriff's office a detainer, essentially telling deputies they wanted him in federal custody.
According to ICE, no one gave them a heads up before he posted a $1,000 bond and was released from jail in April.
In August, he was captured on the now-viral video. Now, he's facing charges of burglary and menacing with a firearm, both felonies.
The Larimer County Sheriff's Office told 9NEWS it never received a detainer for Serpa-Acosta when he was arrested in April. They said he was released on April 29 after posting a cash bond.
"The challenge that we have though is when we get notified late in the evenings, in the middle of the night, or on the weekends, and we have very limited time to respond to those cases," said Kelei Walker, Acting Field Office Director for ICE in Denver.
She said an immigration detainer is issued when an immigration official has determined the person in custody meets one of their current priorities, which include a threat to national security, a threat to public safety or a threat to border security. Walker would like county jails in Colorado to give her agency at least 24 hours notice before someone bonds out, so federal agents can pick them up.
"We have a small law enforcement footprint here in terms of officers, and we cover a two state jurisdiction, Colorado and Wyoming," Walker said. "So we don't have the capacity to run 24/7, but we respond 24/7. Unfortunately, in the middle of the night, when a call is made, we may not be able to respond in a timely manner."
Walker said some jails give no notice, and other places give a few hours notice.
Local authorities may not be giving more notice because of a bill lawmakers passed in 2019, making holding someone after they're eligible for release against state law.
Colorado's court of appeals this summer agreed. Judges concluded state and local law enforcement officers are prohibited from arresting and detaining individuals otherwise eligible for release under Colorado law on the basis of a civil immigration detainer.
"Forms that ICE was using to try and ask local law enforcement officials to hold those folks was actually not rooted in constitutional law," said Democratic State Sen. Julie Gonzales, who sponsored that 2019 bill.
She noted these people are able to bond out because a judge decided their local charges allowed that.
"The fact of the matter is our jails shouldn't be incurring those uncompensated costs on ICE's behalf, when they have adequate, more than adequate, resources to be able to do their work on their own dime," she said.
Another advocate described ICE detainers as unconstitutional, and believes ICE wants to use detainers for everybody to separate families and deport members of our community.
"These protections are there for a reason and it’s because everyone regardless of where you are born is entitled to constitutional rights," said Raquel Lane-Arellano, Communications Manager for Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. "ICE has the resources and know when somebody is getting out."
ICE Denver said they want as much heads up as possible before someone has the chance to commit another crime like what happened in Aurora.
"We can do just about anything during normal business hours. Monday through Friday, Saturday, Sundays. We can coordinate all of these arrests that are required, but we don't have the staffing capacity to work 24/7," Walker said.
ICE said two men Aurora Police have identified as members of Tren de Aragua were released from the Adams County jail without notification. The Adams County Sheriff's Office wouldn't confirm or deny this information.
"We don’t release inmate-specific ICE information," a sheriff's office spokesperson said. "We don’t have any ICE holds listed on the website because we don’t specifically hold for ICE. When ICE information is released, the inmate names are redacted."
Investigators in Arapahoe County arrested one of those men again for burglary and assault charges.
"It's helpful for the law enforcement community to work with ICE because in that instance we would have potentially had those individuals in our custody," Walker said.