U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has ramped up activity in Durango and northwest New Mexico.
Immigration officers smashed the front windows of a man’s car during an arrest in a Safeway parking lot in Aztec on Monday, pulling him from the driver’s seat while his girlfriend and two young daughters sat in the back, sources close to the family said.
They were reportedly headed to Durango for a “meet the teacher” event at the girls’ school when ICE agents stopped the vehicle.
“This is state-sanctioned violence,” said Enrique Orozco-Perez, executive director of Compañeros: Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center. “… This is what a fascist and an authoritarian government looks like.”
While his immigration status was not immediately known, the man detained is reportedly the son of two longtime Durango residents. ICE agents, assisted by the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office, did not have an arrest warrant, Orozco-Perez said.
The children were safely picked up by friends or family, but the full details remain unconfirmed as the family has not yet been reached for comment.
ICE is “100% escalating its activity in the region,” Orozco-Perez said. “There’s more ICE agents in town now, there’s more vehicles.”
The activity continued Tuesday morning, when Durango residents reported two suspicious vehicles – a silver Chevrolet and a midnight-blue Chevy Tahoe, both with New Mexico plates and masked occupants – circling Lightner Creek Mobile Home Park, Orozco-Perez said.
Community dispatchers responded and confirmed the vehicles belonged to ICE agents, he said.
“We know there’s kids from the school that live there that are not going to the first day of school today (Tuesday),” Orozco-Perez said.
Community members have also accused ICE of harassment saying agents were seen tailing a local resident with no active warrants.
“These tactics are ugly. I think we need to really expose what they’re doing. They’re unconstitutional,” Orozco-Perez said.
Local activists said they overheard an ICE agent admit the agency sometimes acts on “probable cause” rather than judicial warrants.
“I want everyone to really think critically – what is probable cause when it comes to ICE going after undocumented immigrants? Does that mean a brown body with an accent? Does that mean a brown or Black body that doesn’t look like they’re from this area?” Orozco-Perez said.
He added that deportation requires “hard evidence” and judicial warrants. Agents should not be able to target residents without due process.
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Two people were detained in Durango on Tuesday morning while on their way to the La Plata County Courthouse.
Colorado Senate Bill 20-083 prohibits civil arrests at courthouses or while individuals are traveling to or from court proceedings.
ICE reportedly detained the people about three blocks from the courthouse.
One was en route to a court proceeding; the other was described as “collateral damage,” Orozco-Perez said.
“A part of the tactic here is they’re deporting people as fast as possible because these civil rights violations and state law violations we’re seeing by the time that people are in their country, they can’t fight their cases,” he said. “That’s where these accelerated deportations are hurting our community.”
Staff members with Compañeros and the Colorado Rapid Response Network alleged that a Durango Police Department officer cooperated with ICE twice on Tuesday – a claim the department vehemently denied.
They said Sgt. Joshua Cunningham pulled over “community confirmers” – rapid response volunteers who document ICE activity – and told them they were not allowed to interfere in ICE activities, which Orozco-Perez said was not happening. He said the stop allowed ICE agents to get away from the confirmer’s eyesight.
Additionally, Orozco-Perez said Cunningham was seen stopping traffic to allow a convoy of ICE agents, stopped in the middle of the road outside The Garage Billiards and Music Hall on West Eighth Street, to pass and make an arrest, Orozco-Perez said.
“We find that very suspicious, and we want to reiterate that in the state of Colorado, local law enforcement cannot cooperate with federal immigration agencies,” he said.
Durango police Chief Brice Current strongly refuted the claim that his department was in anyway assisting ICE.
Current said Cunningham was present at the incident outside the courthouse but was not the responding officer. Another officer pulled over the confirmers after receiving a call from someone that they were being followed – which Current said was normal protocol for any incident like that.
Regarding the claim that Cunningham directed traffic in order to aid ICE in making an arrest, that is also false and misleading, Current said.
Cunningham responded to a blocked road and traffic backup, where he saw flashing lights and recognized the same federal agents from earlier in the day. He directed traffic to keep people safe but did not assist or collaborate with ICE, detain anyone or give directions to federal agents. Current stressed that his role was limited to traffic control and that portraying it as political involvement distorts the truth.
“What I’ll say is that we feel like we have the community’s trust – the entire community, even the immigrant community’s trust here in town – that if they’re in trouble, they can call us,” Current said. “And we don’t want these types of incidents to be spun where it distorts trust, because our main goal is to make sure everyone’s safe – everyone that comes into town, everyone that visits town, everyone regardless of their immigration status.”
Orozco-Perez, who immediately contacted Current with his concerns, said he was not inclined to believe those statements.
“I don’t want to throw the whole police department under the bus. The chief of police has been very responsive to my phone calls and has been very transparent,” he said. “… But the optics of it look awful.”
Compañeros recommended that anyone who sees or hears of ICE activity, or needs support, call the Colorado Rapid Response Network at (844) 864-8341.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
