‘Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Provides Clarification on ICE Denver Social Media Post’

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) in Denver responded to a Facebook post by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Denver, aiming to fact-check the information shared.

ICE Denver had used social media to request the public’s assistance in locating Jose Lopez-Hidalgo, a 32-year-old individual from Honduras. According to ICE, Lopez-Hidalgo had been released by Jefferson County without being handed over to immigration authorities.

Records from the court indicate that Lopez-Hidalgo was taken into custody on a Saturday for charges related to driving under the influence, specifically for misdemeanors such as driving under the influence per se and careless driving causing injury, a traffic offense. He managed to secure his release by posting a $5,000 personal recognizance (PR) bond on the following Monday.

Nearly 24 hours later, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office responded with a post of its own.

In the “fact check,” the sheriff’s office said it is not allowed to “directly turn over an inmate to any law enforcement agency without a judicially authorized warrant,” citing Colorado law.

Local law enforcement agencies are limited in their interactions with ICE under state law. In January, Denver7 Investigates spoke with several sheriff’s offices in the Denver metro area, including Jefferson County, to ask about their policies regarding detainers. A detainer is a request for the sheriff’s office to either notify ICE of the inmate’s release or hold the inmate for up to an additional 48 hours.

The Denver Sheriff’s Department (DSD) notifies ICE ahead of an inmate’s release when it receives a request from ICE. The department said it notifies ICE via fax, which is ICE’s requirement, according to a DSD spokesperson.

In both Jefferson and Douglas counties, the sheriff’s offices notify ICE anytime a foreign-born inmate is booked into the jail. Then, upon ICE’s request, the sheriff’s offices will notify the federal agency when an inmate is beginning the release process.

In all of these cases, it is up to ICE to show up and take the individual into federal custody after they have been released from a local agency’s custody.

• Read the full report from our Denver7 Investigates team below

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said in its post that it received an order to release Lopez-Hidalgo at 11:52 a.m. According to the sheriff’s office, an inmate must be released within six hours of when they are eligible, per Colorado law.

JCSO said it spoke with an ICE representative by phone at noon and informed them of Lopez-Hidalgo’s release. The sheriff’s office wrote in its post, “The ICE representative told us ICE would not be picking up Mr. Lopez-Hidalgo.”

Lopez-Hidalgo was released from the Jefferson County Jail at 2:34 p.m.

“At no point did ICE respond to the jail to pick up Mr. Lopez-Hidalgo,” the sheriff’s office said.

The sheriff’s office said it reached out to the ICE Denver office about the “misleading post.”

“They made their position unmistakable: if we do not provide ICE extra time to coordinate inmate pickups from our facility, in violation of Colorado law, deceptive posts like yesterday’s will become the norm,” JCSO wrote.

The sheriff’s office concluded its post by saying it “respects and follows Colorado law. We will continue to follow the law and stand by the truth.”