Colorado representatives disciplined to share information with federal immigration agents

two Colorado Deputy There was discipline to share information with federal immigration agents, a violation of state law enacted several months ago.

Colorado Attorney General General Phil Weiser sued Mesa County Sheriff’s Deputy Director Alexander Zwink last week after his cooperation with federal immigration agents on the drug task force was revealed, according to the Associated Press.

While dealing with Thursday’s incident, Mesa County Sheriff Todd Lowell said 19-year-old nursing student Caroline Diaz Goncalves was drawn to Zwink due to a traffic stop on June 5, when he allegedly got too close to a semi-truck. Dias-Goncalves was released with warnings about 20 minutes later, but federal immigrant agents stopped her and quickly arrested her.

Zwinck had shared her location and description of her car in a group chat that included an ice agent, Rowell said. She was arrested by ice and taken to a detention facility where she was detained for 15 days before being released on bonds.

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Internal investigations also revealed that Mesa County’s second assistant deputy member and task force member Eric Olson also shared immigration information with federal agents.

Two deputies used signal chat to provide information to federal agents to help Immigration enforcementAccording to the Sheriff’s Office.

Zwinck was placed on three weeks of unpaid leave and Olson was placed on two weeks of unpaid leave, Rowell said in a statement. Both have been removed from the task force.

Two supervisors were also disciplined, one was suspended without paying for two days, and the other received a letter of prim responsibility. A third supervisor was given counseling.

“The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office should have had no role in the series of events leading to Miss Diaz Goncalves’ detention and we regret that this happened. We apologize to Miss Diaz Goncalves,” Lowell said.

Zwinck was sued under new state law, signed by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, about two weeks before Dias-Goncalves’ arrest. This measure prohibits local government employees Law enforcementby identifying information about people with federal immigration officials.

Previously, only state agencies that were prohibited from sharing such information were banned.

The law is one of several passed over the years that restricts state involvement in immigration enforcement. It has led to lawsuits from the Department of Justice, which argues that the protection policy violates the U.S. Constitution or federal immigration law.

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Zwinck and Olson allegedly told authorities they believe they have followed the process for many years, but internal investigations found they had received and read two emails about previous restrictions on cooperation with immigration officials.

An email sent on January 30, 2025 has been told law enforcement to avoid contacting us in particular. Homeland Security Survey Or ice if the person arrested for a violent crime is suspected of not a citizen.

Zwinck said at his disciplinary hearing that he was unaware of the new law or was not interested in contributing to immigration enforcement. Longtime agent Olson testified that sending information to federal agents during traffic stops is “standard practice.”

“It was a routine thing for ice to show up in the backend of traffic stops and do your thing,” Olson said. “I really thought what we were doing was legally tolerated with the supervision.”

Rowell said members of the drug task forces of other law enforcement agencies, including the Colorado patrol, also shared information with immigration agents on Signal Chat, but the state patrol denied the charges.

The sheriff criticized Weiser for suing Zwinck before the internal investigation was over, and called on the Attorney General to stop the lawsuit.

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“Currently, lawsuits filed by the Attorney General’s Office send a disruptive message to Colorado law enforcement officials, meaning that the law may be done selectively and publicly to make the most of its political effects, rather than being applied fairly and consistently,” he said.

Weiser said last week he was investigating whether he was another executive in the group chat. Violated state law.

A Weiser spokesman said evidence of “a blatant violation of state law” was presented and he had to act.

“The Attorney General has an obligation to enforce state law and protect Coloradan, and he continues to do so,” spokesman Lawrence Pacheco said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.