Colorado deputy could face massive fine for sharing information with immigration authorities
"The complaint filed against the deputy is a civil lawsuit (not criminal). Violations of these laws … can result in an injunction and civil penalties up to $50,000," Lawrence Pacheco, director of communications at the Colorado Attorney General's Office, said in an email to Fox News Digital Friday.
Mesa County Sheriff's Deputy Alexander Zwinck and another deputy were disciplined by the sheriff's office for allegedly sharing information with federal immigration agents on a drug task force during a Brazilian college student's arrest for an expired visa, according to The Associated Press.
Mesa County Sheriff Todd Rowell said Caroline Dias-Goncalves, a 19-year-old nursing student, was pulled over by Zwinck for a traffic stop June 5 after she was allegedly driving too close to a semi-truck. While Dias-Goncalves was released with a warning after about 20 minutes, federal immigration agents stopped her and arrested her shortly after.
Zwinck was placed on three weeks of unpaid leave, and Erik Olson was placed on two weeks of unpaid leave, Rowell said in a statement. Both were removed from the task force.
Two supervisors were also disciplined, with one suspended without pay for two days and another receiving a letter of reprimand. A third supervisor received counseling.
"Based on our findings, the Mesa County Sheriff's Office should not have had any role in the chain of events leading to Miss Dias-Goncalves's detention, and I regret that this occurred. I apologize to Miss Dias-Goncalves," Mesa County Sheriff Todd Rowell said in a statement on Wednesday.
"I have pushed for collaboration with state and federal partners to solve crime in our community. In the area of drug interdiction, HSI has been our primary federal law enforcement partner. Although discussions were had with HSI supervision in the months preceding this incident to ensure my deputies would not be involved in immigration enforcement, the administrative review showed that those lines of collaboration were crossed."
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed legislation earlier this year that prevents local governments from sharing immigration information with immigration officials at the federal level.
"Basically, this new law gives a narrow exception for Colorado law enforcement to cooperate with the federal government if ICE or the Department of Homeland Security asks for assistance in a particular crime investigation," Kristi Burton Brown, executive vice president of Advance Colorado, wrote in an email to Fox News Digital.
"However, there is an absolute ban on local law enforcement proactively notifying DHS if they discover that a violent criminal or repeat felon is here illegally. If they report to ICE anyway, they will face a $50,000 fine."
The law preventing law enforcement from cooperating with the federal government in many circumstances was blasted by Rep. Gabe Evans, R-Colo., a former police officer.
"As a former cop, I know firsthand how Colorado's sanctuary laws have flipped the switch on crime, handcuffing cops instead of criminals. Let me be clear: our state's leftist laws don't prioritize public safety, they prioritize political games," Evans posted to X.
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