ICE may have improperly used shared info to detain Utah student, sheriff's probe shows

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Immigration agents improperly tapped data meant to help drug investigations to detain a Utah college student, a probe by a Colorado sheriff's office shows.
Caroline Dias Goncalves was detained by agents in Colorado shortly after she was pulled over by a sheriff's official there for an apparent traffic infraction.
The sheriff's office expressed concern. After a Wednesday immigration hearing, she was to be released on bond.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Federal immigration officials in Colorado improperly tapped information gleaned from a "communication group" meant to help with drug investigations for assistance in detaining a University of Utah student, according to a probe by a Colorado sheriff's office.

Mesa County sheriff's officials investigated the matter following the June 5 detention of Caroline Dias Goncalves, 19, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials near Grand Junction, Colorado. Dias Goncalves, who is from Brazil and has lived in Utah since she was 7, was subsequently placed in an immigration detention facility in Aurora, Colorado.

She had a hearing Wednesday morning in immigration court and family members say she is to be released on bond pending receipt of her bond payment.

A Mesa County Sheriff's Office press release from Monday outlines the apparent misuse by immigration officials of information meant for a multi-agency drug task force preceding Dias Gonclaves' detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Her Denver-based lawyer, Jon Hyman, also raised questions about the turn of events on June 5.

"ICE agents should not act on this information unless associated with a larger criminal investigation. Without knowing how this multi-agency task force operates and how information is shared, it is difficult to determine the intention of the deputy or ICE in using this information as a means to unlawfully detain immigrants," Hyman said Wednesday in response to KSL.com queries on the matter.

"Is every driver subjected to a traffic stop placed in a multi-agency database and their immigration status disclosed?" he asked.

Dias Goncalves — who has a pending asylum claim with immigration officials — was initially stopped and received a warning from a Mesa County Sheriff's Office official for following a semitrailer too closely. Shortly thereafter, immigration agents pulled her over and detained her. Following Wednesday's hearing, Dias Goncalves' family members told KSL-TV that they are relieved she's to be released, though the issue isn't resolved, and she will be returning to Utah.

"There's a gap there. How was it that immigration officials learned of her presence at that time, at that place, and were able to take her into custody?" immigration attorney Jonathan Show, who's not representing Dias Goncalves, asked in an interview with KSL.

The new Mesa County Sheriff's Office information offers answers, saying immigration officials were tipped off to Dias Goncalves by information in the "communication group," which included Mesa County sheriff's officials and federal agents. Per Colorado law, Mesa County sheriff's officials don't probe migratory status during the normal course of their dealings with the public.

Mesa County sheriff's officials launched an "administration investigation" after Dias Goncalves' arrest, determining that federal officials used "material collected for drug interdiction efforts to extrapolate immigration information for the purposes of ICE enforcement," reads Monday's press release. "This use of information is contradictory to Colorado law and was initially intended for the purpose of reducing illegal drug trafficking in Colorado. Unfortunately, it resulted in the later contact between ICE and Miss Dias Goncalves."

ICE representatives didn't respond to a query seeking comment Tuesday. Mesa County sheriff's officials, though, seem miffed.

"We would like to reiterate that we were unaware that the communication group was used for anything other than drug interdiction efforts and that we have since removed all Mesa County Sheriff's Office members from the communication group. We will continue our coordination on drug interdiction efforts with our state and federal and state partners within Colorado law," reads Monday's statement.

Dias Goncalves was driving to Denver when detained. Echoing his comments Wednesday, Hyman last week also raised questions about the circumstances surrounding her detention. "This is unusual and borders unconstitutional action. … No warrant for her arrest was provided, and ICE detained her without requesting identification," he said.

Contributing: Garna Mejia

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.