Nursing student, 19, held by ICE after traffic stop makes surprising revelation about deputy who detained her
Caroline Dias Goncalves, a University of Utah scholarship recipient and one of 2.5 million undocumented Dreamers living in the US, was pulled over June 5 on a stretch of Interstate 70 in Loma, Colorado.
The stop, initiated for following a semi-truck too closely, Goncalves hand over all of her documentation and paperwork and ended with a cordial conversation - but it spiraled into a 15-day nightmare that saw her locked in an ICE detention facility, fearing she might never see her family again.
Now free after a judge ordered her release on June 18, Goncalves has released a powerful public statement.
And in a twist that has left many stunned, she thanked the very deputy whose actions helped lead to her arrest - Investigator Alexander Zwinck of the Mesa County Sheriff's Office.
'Even to the ICE officer who detained me… he kept apologizing and told me he wanted to let me go, but his hands were tied. There was nothing he could do, even though he knew it wasn't right,' Goncalves wrote.
'I want you to know - I forgive you. Because I believe that people can make better choices when they're allowed to.'
Body camera footage reviewed by DailyMail.com showed Zwinck pulling Goncalves over and issuing her a warning.
During the encounter, he casually asked about her background: 'Where are you from? You have a bit of an accent.'
'I'm from Utah,' she responded, cautiously.
Zwinck then asked if she had been born and raised there. 'No,' she admitted, after a pause. 'I was born in - gosh, I always forget the town… down in Brazil.'
'My parents moved here,' she added.
The officer appeared unfazed by her answer, moving on to ask her questions about her boyfriend, her weekend plans and her dreams of becoming a nurse.
But just minutes later as she exited the freeway, ICE agents pulled her over again.
She was arrested and taken to the Aurora Contract Detention Facility outside Denver.
Goncalves' name and travel details had been shared in a multi-agency law enforcement group chat, originally intended to coordinate drug trafficking enforcement - but now revealed to be quietly exploited by federal immigration agents.
The Mesa County Sheriff's Office has since confirmed its deputies, including Zwinck, were part of the chat group and said it was unaware the information was being used for ICE arrests.
The department has pulled out of the group and placed Zwinck on leave pending an investigation.
'This use of information is contradictory to Colorado law… Unfortunately, it resulted in the later contact between ICE and Miss Dias Goncalves,' the agency said in a public statement.
Goncalves' full statement, released days after her release, paints a harrowing picture of life inside the Aurora facility.
'We were given soggy wet food - even the bread was all soggy. We were kept on confusing schedules,' she wrote.
'And the moment they realized I spoke English, I saw a change - suddenly I was treated better than others who didn't. That broke my heart.'
Despite having lived in the US since she was seven years old, Goncalves said she was 'treated like I didn't matter.'
Her detention occurred amid President Donald Trump's renewed push to ramp up deportations, particularly in Democratic-run cities.
The administration has publicly instructed ICE to prioritize arrests in urban hubs like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, where, Trump claims, 'Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside.'
His immigration architect, Stephen Miller, has called for 3,000 arrests per day - a staggering increase over the daily averages early in Trump's first term.
And although enforcement actions in high-traffic industries like agriculture and hospitality have reportedly been paused, the president has continued to push for visible, symbolic crackdowns such as Goncalves' arrest.
Her statement is telling both in its emotional honesty and unexpected grace.
'I hope no one else has to go through what I did. But I know that right now, over 1,300 people are still in that same nightmare in Aurora detention,' she wrote.
'They are just like me - people who've grown up here, who love this country, who want nothing more than a chance to belong.'
She reserved special thanks for her attorney, her family, community groups, and the US senators who intervened on her behalf.
She also gave credit to her best friends and legal fund supporters - more than $28,000 has been raised for her case through GoFundMe.
And yet, despite the trauma, Goncalves did not call for punishment or retribution for Zwinck, who according to her own account expressed regret even as he followed protocol.
'Immigrants like me - we're not asking for anything special. Just a fair chance to adjust our status, to feel safe, and to keep building the lives we've worked so hard for.'
After 15 days in detention, Goncalves says she's returning to work, school, and 'healing.'
'I'm going to try to move forward now... but I won't forget this. And I hope others won't either.'
Goncalves is a recipient of the TheDream.US national scholarship, granted to undocumented students pursuing higher education. She is studying to become a nurse.
While her father's asylum case remains pending, her own legal status hangs in the balance. It is understood her family arrived in the US on a tourist visa, which they overstayed.
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