Two people were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement near Bayfield during a traffic stop Tuesday morning, according to Compañeros: Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center.
Compañeros Executive Director Enrique Orozco-Perez said the two people were driving to a construction job when ICE pulled them over on U.S. Highway 160 between the Narrow Gauge Mobile Home Park and a park-and-ride west of Bayfield.
One person had a tourist visa, and the other “had no documentation whatsoever,” Orozco-Perez said.
He said the two detainees were being held Tuesday at ICE’s Durango office in Bodo Industrial Park.
He said ICE flashed police lights to initiate the traffic stop.
“When they flash those things ... we tell them to pull over because we don’t want them getting rammed off the road,” he said.
He said limited information is available about the detentions, including why the people were pulled over, whether warrants were presented or when exactly the stop occurred.
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Orozco-Perez said the detainees are between 25 and 35 years old and work in construction, although he does not know their employer or where they live.
A family member of one of the detainees said the person’s visitor visa is current, but Orozco-Perez noted it’s common for families not to know the exact status of their relatives’ documentation.
People traveling to the United States on visitor visas are prohibited from working in the country, according to the U.S. Department of State.
Orozco-Perez said earlier unconfirmed reports of ICE activity in the same area that morning caused confusion.
The Southwest division of the Colorado Rapid Response Network – a coalition of activist and advocacy groups – received reports of ICE activity around 8:30 a.m. Three trained volunteer rapid responders arrived by 8:45 a.m. but could not locate ICE agents or vehicles.
Between 9:45 and 10 a.m., Orozco-Perez said he began receiving calls from people who had direct contact with the detainees’ family members confirming their arrests, he said.
Tuesday’s detentions are the latest known ICE arrests in La Plata County since five employees of Rock Solid Custom Granite in Durango were detained on May 14.
The detentions come amid national protests against ICE and the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement strategy.
In a Truth Social post Sunday, President Donald Trump ordered ICE and other law enforcement agencies to increase deportation efforts in major Democratic cities, calling it “the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.”
Orozco-Perez said contact with ICE is becoming more frequent in La Plata County.
“Trump recently said that they’re not going to go after construction sites and (restaurants). I don’t know how true that is. I feel like that type of messaging is really being used so people aren’t as alert,” he said. “But I do feel like we’re going to start seeing activity go up, especially with how big of a failure his mass deportation efforts have been.”
In another Truth Social post on Thursday, Trump suggested exemptions from immigration enforcement for farmers, hotels and restaurants.
The post came after industry executives complained about “losing reliable, longtime immigrant workers in immigration raids and struggling to replace them,” NBC News reported. Exemptions for the construction industry were not mentioned.
The exemptions were short-lived – they were retracted Monday morning by ICE officials, who said agents must continue with immigration raids at agricultural businesses, hotels and restaurants, The Washington Post reported.
Deportation efforts nationwide are causing paranoia and “extreme panic” among immigrants in the Durango area, Orozco-Perez said.
He said Compañeros is constantly battling misinformation.
Residents are spotting more Ford Explorers – a model of vehicle ICE has used in the past – with out-of-state license plates during the busy tourist season, and many are on edge, he said.
cburney@durangoherald.com
