ICE used group chat with Colorado sheriff to target woman for immigration enforcement, officials say

Federal immigration agents arrested a Utah college candidate driving through Grand Junction in early June after they learned about her from local law enforcement a situation that Colorado laws are designed to prevent The federal agents identified the -year-old who was born in Brazil for immigration enforcement after a Mesa County Sheriff s Office deputy pulled her over for a traffic stop on Interstate near Fruita on June The deputy shared information about her in a group chat that included members from several law enforcement agencies including federal agents the sheriff s office commented in a comment Monday The group chat was part of a region-wide drug interdiction effort the sheriff s office explained and deputies regularly shared information about defendants in the chat But the federal agents in the chat used that information to target subjects for immigration enforcement according to the sheriff s office The sheriff s office revealed in a comment that its deputies did not know the information in the group chat was being used for federal immigration enforcement Federal agents arrested the woman after the initial traffic stop a limited miles down the road in Grand Junction according to a comment from the sheriff s office and reporting by The Salt Lake Tribune She was let go from the traffic stop which was for following a semitrailer too closely with a warning Colorado law prohibits local law enforcement officers from carrying out civil immigration enforcement and largely blocks local police agencies from working with U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement The Mesa County Sheriff s Office pulled its deputies from the group chat after the woman s arrest spokeswoman Molly Casey commented We have learned that the federal representatives within the communication group began using the material collected for drug interdiction efforts to extrapolate immigration information for the purposes of ICE enforcement the sheriff s office revealed in a declaration This use of information is contradictory to Colorado law and was initially intended for the purpose of reducing illegal drug trafficking in Colorado The driver Caroline Dias Goncalves a -year-old University of Utah novice was detained by federal agents and transferred to ICE s detention facility in Aurora the Tribune revealed last week Dias Goncalves immigrated to the United States when she was and overstayed a tourist visa with her family the newspaper announced She and her family have a pending application for asylum according to the Tribune The sheriff s office disclosed body-worn camera footage of the traffic stop on Monday The footage shows Deputy Alexander Zwinck telling Goncalves that she was following a truck too closely and that the truck had to brake check her He asks about where she is going and how long she s owned her car Goncalves then accompanied Zwinck back to his patrol car while she and the deputy tried to track down the right registration and insurance paperwork the body-worn camera footage shows The deputy questioned her about her trunk which was damaged and her plans for the weekend Where are you from You ve got a little bit of an accent Zwinck solicited Goncalves Related Articles Colorado law enforcement have limited interaction with ICE Could that change under Trump s mass deportations Federal judge transfers deportation event for Boulder attack suspect s family to Texas court Homeland Defense secretary pledges to carry on with Trump s immigration crackdown Feds detain immigrant family at Denver courthouse amid new Trump strategy I m from Utah she mentioned adding that she d lived there for years Born and raised or no the deputy inquired No I was born in oh my gosh I inevitably forget down in I was born in Brazil Goncalves answered And my parents moved to here Casey declined to say exactly what information the deputy shared in the group chat and directed The Denver Post to file an open records request for that information But she revealed sharing information in the group chat was routine Every time an individual is stopped during drug interdiction efforts they use the chat to provide the information as to who they stopped Casey mentioned It s normal for drug interdiction efforts It s nothing that is new Since Colorado lawmakers have passed laws that block ICE officers from arresting people at or around courthouses stop probation officers from giving people s personal information to federal immigration leadership prohibit sheriffs from entering into agreements to house ICE civil detainees and bar local jails from holding inmates solely at the request of ICE This is a growing story and will be updated Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day