People are disappearing under Garfield County custody
- Voces Unidas Action Fund
- 1 hour ago
- 8 min read
Since March 2024, Voces Unidas has been documenting civil rights complaints involving the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office. In the past 12 months, a disturbing pattern has emerged: being in Garfield County custody leads to ICE custody.
In nine of the 10 documented cases, a person was arrested on state charges, posted bond or was ordered released by a judge, and yet never walked out of the jail.
Under Colorado law, posting bond is not a technicality. State statute explicitly recognizes posting bond as a release-triggering event, meaning the person is legally eligible for release from custody under C.R.S. § 24-76.6-101(2)(d).
But in these cases, release never happened. Instead, according to the impacted persons, ICE agents entered the jail, county jail deputies facilitated the transfer of the person into federal custody, and ICE transported them away using the jail’s secure sally port.
This is not ICE waiting outside in a public space after someone is free to leave. The pattern suggests ICE agents are being allowed inside a secure detention facility and taking people still under county control.
Colorado law prohibits local law enforcement from arresting or detaining someone based on a civil immigration detainer request (C.R.S. § 24-76.6-102(2)). An ICE detainer is not a judicial warrant. It is a request from ICE.
And while the most consistent pattern documented by Voces Unidas involves transfers inside the jail, one case shows this conduct is not limited to the jail. In the 10th case, two Garfield County deputies arrested a man outside a Walmart in Glenwood Springs without a warrant, drove him to the back of a gas station, and handed him directly to an ICE agent waiting there.
Most were individuals charged with traffic offenses and misdemeanors who hadn't been convicted. They were booked, arraigned, and transferred to ICE custody before being released on bond, forcing them into deportation proceedings without a chance to defend themselves or for the court to determine guilt or innocence.
We are not excusing anyone’s behavior or arguing that people should not be held accountable. We are arguing that the rule of law applies to everyone, and jail officials cannot choose when Colorado law matters and when it does not.
10 local families harmed by Garfield County’s ICE collaboration
Over the past year, Voces Unidas has compiled 10 separate incidents that follow the same disturbing pattern: Latino community members end up in ICE custody while still under Garfield County’s control.
One case shows coordination outside the jail, where deputies detained someone to hand over to ICE as an “Assist.”
The other nine cases involve the Garfield County Jail. People are booked, recorded as “released,” and yet never walk out.
Case #1 - A long-time community member, age 60, from Glenwood Springs was detained without a judicial warrant on June 3, 2025 by Garfield County deputies at the Walmart’s parking lot in Glenwood Springs. Witness video shows deputies detaining him. Public records confirm that deputies drove him to the back of a gas station in DeBeque and turned him over to ICE agents. This was logged by Garfield County as an "Assist.”
Case #2 - A community member, age 22, was booked into the Garfield County Jail on August 8, 2025. Records show he posted bond and was eligible to be released on the same day. His family waited for him to be released, but he never did. ICE agents entered the jail and detained him inside the secure facility before he was ever allowed to leave, according to his family and jail staff.
Case #3 - A mother of four, age 42, from New Castle was booked into the Garfield County Jail on September 20, 2025. Records show she was ordered released by a judge without a bond on September 22, 2025, meaning she should have been allowed to walk free and return home to her children. Her family waited outside but she never exited the jail. ICE agents entered the jail and detained her before she was allowed to leave.
Case #4 - A husband and father, age 35, from El Jebel was booked into the Garfield County Jail on November 16, 2025. Jail records show he was “released” the same day. But according to his family, he never walked out of the jail. Instead, he was transferred into ICE custody inside the facility before he could leave the facility.
Case #5 - A community member, age 23, from Snowmass was booked into the Garfield County Jail on November 24, 2025. Jail records show he was “released” the same day. His family believed he had bonded out and was waiting for him. But he never walked out. ICE took custody inside the jail.
Case #6 - A father of a young child, age 25, from Rifle was booked into the Garfield County Jail on December 14, 2025. Jail records show he was “released” that same day. His family waited for him, but he never came out of jail. When they went inside the jail to ask, they were told ICE had already detained him.
Case #7 - A community member, age 37, from Glenwood Springs was booked into the Garfield County Jail on December 14, 2025. Jail records show he was “released” on December 15, 2025. His family was waiting outside the jail, but he never came out. ICE detained him inside the jail.
Case #8 - A community member, age 38, from Glenwood Springs was booked into the Garfield County Jail on December 21, 2025. Jail records show he was “released” on December 23, 2025. His family expected him to come home for the holidays. But he never walked out of the jail. ICE took custody inside the facility before he could be released.
Case #9 - A community member, age 31, from Glenwood Springs was booked into the Garfield County Jail on January 1, 2026. Jail records show he was “released” on January 2, 2026. His family believed he had bonded out. But he never walked out. ICE detained him inside the jail before he was allowed to leave.
Case #10 - A community member, age 24, from Carbondale was booked into the Garfield County Jail on January 19, 2026. Jail records show he was “released” on January 20, 2026. His family believed he had posted bond, but he never walked out of the jail. ICE detained him inside the secure jail facility before he could be released.
In nearly every case, these were individuals charged with state offenses who had not yet been convicted of anything.
They became eligible for release, but were never allowed to actually leave.
Taken together, these cases show more than isolated incidents. They describe a repeated practice that separates families because ICE is detaining people while still under county control.
Sheriff Vallario’s record on immigration and cooperation with ICE
The pattern documented by Voces Unidas is consistent with Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario’s own public record. For more than a decade, Vallario has framed Garfield County as “non-sanctuary” and publicly defended cooperation with ICE.
As early as 2012, the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office came under scrutiny after reports that undocumented survivors of domestic violence were being referred to ICE following contact with law enforcement. The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado warned at the time that the practice discouraged victims from reporting abuse and placed families at risk of deportation simply for seeking help.
In 2017, Vallario issued a written position paper titled “Just the Facts” outlining his views on immigration and the role of the sheriff. In that document, he rejected sanctuary policies and described cooperation with ICE as routine. Vallario wrote that when someone is booked into jail, his office notifies ICE, keeps ICE informed of an inmate’s status, and would “notify them of that inmate’s release date and time and allow ICE to take custody of them.”
In March 2024, speaking publicly to the Garfield County Board of County Commissioners, Vallario stated: “We absolutely work with ICE … when these people can no longer be held on criminal charges, we let ICE know this person is going to be released and then ICE has the opportunity to come get them.”
In 2025, Vallario issued another formal position paper defending his approach. In it, he wrote: “I will support ANY other law enforcement agency when requested… There are no laws preventing me from supporting another law enforcement agency and I will always do so when asked.”
In an August 21, 2025 news report by the Summit Daily News, Vallario confirmed that a man was detained by ICE “in the jail’s sally port,” adding that there was “nothing that I’m aware of that prohibits us from making that transfer” in that area.
This history provides important context for the cases Voces Unidas has documented in the last 12 months. When families describe ICE agents entering the jail and people being transferred into federal custody before ever walking free, those experiences align with a long-standing philosophy articulated by the sheriff himself: that cooperation with ICE is expected, normal, and appropriate.
While Sheriff Vallario’s posture has not changed, the law has. Colorado statutes now draw clear lines limiting local involvement in civil immigration enforcement. The pattern documented by Voces Unidas raises serious concerns about how practices shaped over the last decade are failing to adjust to those legal boundaries — and how immigrant families are paying the price.
Attorney General Weiser’s leadership and Colorado’s pattern-or-practice law
Voces Unidas has formally reported all 10 cases we documented in Garfield County to Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and his staff. We have provided testimony from impacted families, along with supporting records that corroborate the timeline of detention and transfer in each case.
We appreciate Attorney General Weiser’s engagement and his office’s partnership in strengthening Colorado’s civil rights protections.
These reports matter because Colorado law does not treat repeated civil rights violations by law enforcement as isolated incidents. In 2020, the legislature passed Senate Bill 217, giving the Attorney General authority to investigate and pursue action when a government agency engages in a pattern or practice of depriving people of their rights. That authority is codified in C.R.S. § 24-31-113 and was designed to address systemic misconduct — not just individual cases.
We believe that the cases we reported outline exactly that kind of pattern in Garfield County.
In case after case, the sequence is the same: people are arrested on state charges, post bond or are ordered released, and yet never walk out of the jail. Instead, ICE agents enter the facility and take custody before the person is allowed to walk free. In one case, deputies took that coordination beyond the jail itself, arresting a man outside a Walmart and handing him directly to ICE.
We are asking the State to investigate a documented pattern of conduct that appears inconsistent with Colorado law and the basic principle that people must be allowed to leave once they are legally eligible for release.
The people of Garfield County deserve clarity, accountability, and enforcement of the law.
Our call to action
Voces Unidas believes that everyone deserves equal protection under the law, regardless of immigration status.
Colorado passed these protections because civil immigration enforcement is not a state or local responsibility. Once a person has posted bond, they are legally eligible for release. When local officials prevent that release in order to facilitate ICE custody, the rule of law breaks down.
We are demanding immediate action:
The Attorney General should use his pattern-of-practice authority to investigate and pursue appropriate action against the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office if their conduct is found to be inconsistent with Colorado law.
The Garfield County Sheriff and County Commissioners must end the practice of facilitating ICE detentions inside the jail and supporting civil immigration enforcement without judicial warrants.
State lawmakers should continue strengthening Colorado law to ensure there is no ambiguity about whether this conduct is legal.
Jail officials do not get to decide who is protected under Colorado law. If they do not like the law, they should call their state lawmakers — just like the rest of us. And if they cannot abide by state law, they must be held accountable.
Community members can report any suspected civil rights violations to our hotline at 970-340-8586.