A week after five Durango workers were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, details of the arrests, the people detained and their current situation remain limited.
ICE has declined to release the workers’ identities, and local government officials say they’ve been given no information – leaving Durango’s undocumented immigrant community fearful, which one immigration advocate said could impact local businesses that depend on their labor.
Five vehicles carrying about 10 ICE and Homeland Security Investigations officers arrived at Rock Solid Custom Granite around 8 a.m. May 14 and arrested several Hispanic employees who allegedly lacked proper documentation, said Jake Morrow, the business manager.
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ICE spokesman Steve Kotecki confirmed the arrests and the nature of the allegations but declined to release the names of those detained, citing the agency’s privacy policy, which restricts the release of information unless a name, date of birth or case number is provided.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver also declined to comment on the identities of those arrested.
Various reports of the incident have provided conflicting information about whether a warrant was presented at the time of the arrests.
Kotecki said he was unable to speak to the specifics of the case, but said a warrant is not legally required for administrative arrests – civil arrests of individuals suspected of entering the United States illegally – that occur outside the judicial system.
He said those arrested were most likely being held at Denver Contract Detention Facility in Aurora but could not provide additional information about their status.
Local officials were also unable to provide additional information, saying they remain just as uninformed as the general public.
La Plata County Sheriff Sean Smith said local law enforcement agencies have had no contact with ICE. He said the Sheriff’s Office was not informed of the raid beforehand and received no follow-up information afterward.
“We just don’t have involvement with them,” Smith said. “They haven’t reached out to us and requested help, either.”
Smith emphasized that his office plays no role in immigration enforcement, adding that he wants people to feel they can still come to law enforcement for help without fear of deportation.
“Local law enforcement is about enforcing the law. Immigration is administrative law that’s reserved for the federal government,” he said. “Just like I don’t have that federal authority to enforce immigration law, I also don’t have the authority to stop it.”
La Plata County commissioners are in a similar position. Commissioner Marsha Porter-Norton said board members were not made aware of the arrests and have not received any information from authorities.
As of Tuesday, commissioners were not working on any kind of response, she said.
“We don’t have a lot of span in this space, because it is a federal law enforcement entity,” Porter-Norton said. “That is critically important for the public to understand.”
Efforts to reach Morrow, the manager of Rock Solid, for updates about his employees were unsuccessful Tuesday.
Enrique Orozco-Perez, co-executive director of Compañeros: Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center, said the raid has intensified fears and uncertainty among Durango’s immigrant community.
“Right now, we’re already seeing people missing from work, and we see people missing from school,” he said. “So kids aren’t getting the education that is their constitutional right, no matter what their status is.”
The Constitution guarantees every person the right to pursue life, liberty and happiness, which includes the right to an education, he said, pointing out that all children in the U.S. are legally entitled to attend school, regardless of their immigration status.
Bilingual support liaisons, who connect parents and guardians with school staff and the broader community, have reported that most students who are undocumented or have undocumented family members are still attending class, a Durango School District 9-R spokesperson said.
“For most people, this is out of sight, out of mind. They care about it, and they may be attuned to it because of the news, but they’re not living through it,” Orozco said. “The actual fear that people are living through – a lot of folks don’t understand.”
But that fear is likely to ripple through the community, he said.
Orozco drew a parallel between a discussion to increase Durango’s minimum wage and the ICE raids. Just as increasing the minimum wage would place a strain on local businesses, so too will the ICE raids in the long term, he said.
He noted that several individuals are staying home from work out of fear of detention or deportation.
If it continues, “People are going to be losing jobs that U.S.-born citizens don’t want – then that’s going to affect every sector,” Orozco said.
Immigrants make up a large chunk of Durango’s construction workforce; they are employed in the siding, roofing, HVAC and cement industries, he said.
The service and tourist industries are also heavily supported by immigrant labor, Orozco said. They clean hotel rooms and work in kitchens.
“They uphold our economy in a tremendous way that most people don’t recognize,” he said.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
