. Lou Vallario. Reporter. I have been in the industry for 40 years and I love to play golf. I have been in the industry for 40 years and I love to play golf. Pixabay. Individual county sheriffs cannot enter into agreements with federal authorities that call for local law enforcement officers to perform arrest and detention functions of federal immigration officers, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday. In a lawsuit against Teller County, a threejudge panel reversed a lower court s ruling that allowed Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell to continue his agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to arrest and detain such inmates. That agreement, approved in 2019, calls on the sheriff to detain inmates who have been issued civil immigration detainers because they are suspected of entering the nation without proper documentation. The only other Colorado county that had a similar agreement was Moffat, which no longer has an ICE agreement. Still, when it did it is unclear if the ruling would have applied to that county because that sheriff s jail doesn t detain civil inmates, only criminal ones. As a result, it also may not be subject to a new state law approved by the Colorado Legislature that bars local governments, including county sheriffs, from entering into such agreements for civil immigration detentions, which most ICE holds are. The court concludes that state or local law enforcement officers are prohibited from arresting and detaining individuals otherwise eligible for release under Colorado law on the basis of a civil immigration detainer, Judge Pax Moultrie wrote in the ruling, which was joined by Judges Stephanie Dunn and David Yun. The Teller sheriff tried to argue that four of his deputies are trained by federal authorities to handle immigration cases, and when they do so are actually federal officers, not state officers. But the appeal court rejected that argument, saying those officers are paid by local tax dollars and are employed by local sheriffs. We reject the notion that because the Teller office s agreement delegates certain immigration enforcement powers, they are subject to only federal law when performing those functions, Moultrie wrote. First, by the plain language of federal law state and local law enforcement officers who perform immigration functions remain employees of their specific locales, she added. In other words, Teller deputies remain subject to Colorado law even though they are also subject to federal law while performing immigration enforcement functions. And Teller s agreement says as much. . Under House Bill 1100 signed by Gov. Jared Polis last year, as of the start of this year, state and local governments were barred from entering into or renewing immigration detention agreements. That new law, and others approved by the Legislature, prompted objections from some county sheriffs. Lou Vallario. I do not, nor do any Colorado state and local law enforcement officers, have federal immigration authority, Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario said in an April statement shortly after that county s commissioners approved a resolution stating it was not a sanctuary county. Many other counties, including Mesa, did something similar after thousands of Venezuela immigrants were bused from the southern border to Denver and other major cities across the nation. I say legally because the Colorado Legislature has enacted several laws limiting my ability to work with ICE, Vallario said. Further, several federal lawsuits across the country have decided that with no criminal charges ICE holds are almost always administrative matters people cannot be held in jail against their will, he added. . The Mesa County Sheriff s Office said that although it continues to notify federal authorities whenever a foreignborn person is booked into its detention center, enabling them to conduct whatever investigations on their residency status that they choose, it has not held ICE detainees since 2013. As such, the Mesa County Detention Center does not have a civil immigration agreement with ICE, so they court ruling doesn t impact the county, sheriff spokeswoman Wendy Likes said in an email. Reporter. I have been in the industry for 40 years and I love to play golf. I have been in the industry for 40 years and I love to play golf. . . Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers:. Get uptotheminute news sent straight to your device.
Colorado Court of Appeals rules that individual county sheriffs cannot perform federal immigration officers' duties, reversing a lower court ruling allowing Teller County Sheriff to detain civil immigration inmates. The court emphasizes that state officers remain subject to local laws even when executing federal duties. The legislation bars local governments from entering into immigration detention agreements. Some sheriffs object to these laws, citing limitations on their work with ICE. Mesa County Sheriff's Office, though notifying federal authorities of foreign-born detainees, hasn't held ICE detainees since 2013, so the ruling doesn't affect them.