Denver faces legal challenges with ICE

Newsroom El Comercio de Colorado

Haga click aquí para leer la versión en español

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) filed a complaint in Denver federal court asking that a judge enforce administrative subpoenas it issued to the Denver’s sheriff department last month. ICE wants to have access to information such as addresses, identification and arrest reports on the two Mexican nationals and a Honduran.

According to ICE, all three men have been deported multiple times. One of the men from Mexico was arrested for sexual assault and the other for vehicular homicide. The Honduran man was arrested on domestic violence charges. ICE originally also sought information on a fourth person whom it has since found and arrested.

City response

Denver said it would not comply with the subpoenas unless a judge determined that they were appropriate. City officials have accused ICE of seeking the information for a political motivation. Denver jail officials notified ICE before the two were released. ICE agents did not arrive to the jail before they were freed.

The Attorney for Denver’s Department of Safety, Chad Sublet, explained the city’s refusal to comply with the subpoenas. Sublet said that ICE already had access to the state and federal database to which the city feeds information. This attorney insisted that ICE had already accessed biometric data like fingerprints about the two Mexican and the Honduran.