Immigrant rights advocates and community members say federal immigration officers engaged in profiling after two suspected undocumented immigrants were detained at a Bayfield grocery store Wednesday.
The Colorado Rapid Response Network, a coalition of immigrant advocacy groups, reported on social media that two Bayfield residents, ages 19 and 21, were detained by Homeland Security Investigations agents outside Subway and The Grocery Store along U.S. Highway 160 around 10:30 a.m.
Like U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, HSI is under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Its mission is to conduct criminal investigations into gunrunning, cyber and financial crimes, and drug and human trafficking.
The Colorado Rapid Response Network said two agents approached a person walking and another on a bicycle, detained them and took them away in a black Ford SUV and a gray or silver Ford F150.
Enrique Orozco-Perez, executive director of Compañeros: Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center, said the detentions are suspicious because the agents did not have warrants and did not know who the people were – only that they were speaking Spanish.
“The agent (said) he has no idea who they were. He didn’t have their names or anything. And so we think there’s profiling going on,” he said.
A Homeland Security Investigations agent can be heard in a video saying one of the detained individuals admitted to being in the country illegally and attacked the agent. Family members said in the recording the man did not admit to being in the country illegally and did not try to fight the agent.
A copy of the video was provided to The Durango Herald.
A Bayfield police officer arrived, saying he was responding to a 911 call that had abruptly disconnected. The officer told the rapid responder that ICE usually notifies Bayfield police of local operations, but no such notification was given Wednesday.
The Herald called The Grocery Store for comment. A man answered, then immediately hung up when a reporter identified himself. In a second call, the man identified himself only as “Joe,” refused to provide a last name and hung up again.
Orozco-Perez said the HSI agents did not provide a warrant when they detained the people outside the store.
In a cellphone recording provided to the Herald by Compañeros, an HSI agent told the aunt and uncle of one man detained outside the store that their nephew, whose first name appears to be Santiago, would be taken to Denver where his case will be decided by an immigration judge.
The clip begins mid-conversation, with family members and the agent speaking.
After a brief exchange in Spanish, the agent said in English, “You should love America, not Mexico.”
A family member, clearly distraught, said, “That’s true,” to which the agent replied, “That is true.”
The family members said their nephew’s detention was stressful, and the agent responded that it was stressful for him too, but stress doesn’t justify fighting with law enforcement. The family members then asked why their family member was detained.
“Because (he’s) Mexican? Or illegal?” the aunt asked.
The agent said he was at The Grocery Store looking for somebody else when Santiago walked past him. He asked the man if he was in the country illegally and Santiago said, “Yes,” according to the agent.
“They walked right by me. Should I just ignore it?” the agent said. “He just walked by me. I passed him. I approached him – he came to my truck.”
The aunt apologized several times in the video. The agent told her there was nothing he could do about her stress – if Santiago is in the country illegally then he should have asked for permission to stay or to work.
The family and the person recording sounded incredulous, saying Santiago wouldn’t approach an immigration officer, admit he was in country illegally and then start a fight.
The Herald left a voicemail with the family but did not immediately receive a response.
cburney@durangoherald.com
