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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Immigration data obtained by 13 Investigates reveals the number of undocumented immigrants with ties to criminal activity is dropping exponentially in Colorado. The drastic drop comes as the number of illegal crossings at the U.S. southern border has risen by more than 80 percent since 2020.

According to numbers from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), over 2.3 million undocumented immigrants crossed the U.S. southern border illegally in 2022. In that same period, the number of undocumented immigrants arrested in Colorado and Wyoming, the enforcement region of ICE in Denver, dropped by 75 percent.

It's important to note numerous studies have found there is no link between undocumented immigrants and increased crimes.

In 2022,Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agentsarrested 430 suspected undocumented immigrants who've been convicted or are currently being prosecuted for crimes in Colorado and Wyoming. That number includes 45 suspected gang members, according to ICE.

However, the overall numbers show a steep decline in these federal arrests compared to previous years. In 2019, Colorado ICE agents arrested 2,408 undocumented immigrants, and it dipped again in 2020 with 1,433 illegal immigrants arrested with direct ties to crime in Colorado.

In early February, 13 Investigates witnessed a federal immigration arrest in El Paso County. ICE agents confronted Ruben Niz-Hernandez, 34, as he was on his way to work. According to ICE, Niz-Hernandez, a Guatemalan national, was previously deported three times in 2008, 2010,and 2011 before entering the United States illegally without detection.

ICE said he was previously convicted of aggravated incest on a child in 2021 in El Paso County. He received a sentence of 20 years to life on Colorado's Sex Offender Intensive Supervision Program. Niz-Hernandez was also convicted of DUI on Sept. 16, 2021, and was sentenced to two years of probation.

However, on the morning of his apprehension, ICE told 13 Investigates the need to place him under their custody was urgent because they had evidence he was still living with the victim he was convicted of sexually assaulting.

"He'll be taken to an immigration office and processed," ICE Deputy Field Office Director, Robert Cultrip said. "They'll explain what his rights are. They will also provide him information for pro-bono legal services, consular notification information, allow him to contact his family, things of that nature."

Without his prior criminal history, Cultrip said Niz-Hernandez would not be eligible for federal criminal prosecution for solely entering the United States illegally. Due to this, a federal immigration judge ordered him removed on March 29, 2023. ICE said he has since been removed from Mexico.

13 Investigates uncovered that The El Paso County Sheriff's Office arrested three undocumented immigrants, Ector Sarabia-Cabrera, Isidrio Sarabia-Gonzalez, and Braulio Barron-Rubio on murder charges. According to an arrest affidavit obtained by13 Investigates, the three men and a woman - identified as Yessica Cortes-Barcenas - took Manuel Hernandez-Uribe from his home at gunpoint. They're accused of driving him to Cheyenne Mountain, shooting him, killing him, and then dumping his body along Old Stage Rd. in unincorporated El Paso County in June of 2022.

Federal immigration sources told13 Investigatesthe three male suspects entered the U.S. without detection from immigration authorities sometime in the last 20 years.

According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Ector Sarabia-Cabrera entered the U.S. without inspection by an immigration official on an unknown date. His criminal history includes a conviction in Arapahoe County, Colorado, in March 2022 for marijuana cultivation.

He was also convictedin January 2022, in Denver County for possessing a controlled substance with intent to distribute as well as vehicle theft. A warrant for his arrest was issued from Denver County for failure to comply with the terms of his probation stemming from a conviction on drug charges.

On Jan. 19, 2016, ICE reports Isidrio Sarabia-Gonzalez entered the U.S. through Sasabe, Arizona, wherehe was apprehended. Sarabia-Gonzalez was given an Expedited Removal and ultimately removed through Nogales, Arizona, the same day.

However, he returned without inspection by an immigration official on an unknown date. On Jan. 3, 2020, he was back in Colorado at the Arapahoe County Jail where he was held for various misdemeanor charges that are still pending.

According to ICE, Barron-Rubio was arrested on Sept. 20, 2006, at then-Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora during an enforcement action looking at several companies contracted to provide construction labor. He admitted to enteringthe U.S. on Oct. 8, 2006, by wading across the Rio Grande River, about five miles west of the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry in El Paso, Texas.He was granted a voluntary return to Mexico and left that day.

On Oct. 11, 2006, he reentered the U.S. and was found in anSUV taking suspected undocumented non-citizens near the Fabens (Texas) Port of Entry. He was granted another voluntary return to Mexico.

On Aug. 4, 2022, he was arrested in Jefferson County on misdemeanor charges and contempt of court. He was arrested again on Oct. 13, 2022, for vehicle theft in Denver County.

If convicted on their current murder charges, these three men would join the 528 undocumented immigrants already serving time in Colorado prisons.

13 investigates learnedICE has filed federal deportation arrest papers for all three men, meaning once they go through the court system here, an immigration judge may remove them from the country.

"In our enforcement activity, our immigration officers focus on the most egregious threats to public safety and national security," Kelei Walker, Deputy Field Office Director for ICE in Denver, said.

Despite arguments to the contrary, the National Institute of Justice found there is no link between undocumented immigration in the U.S. and increases in crime rates.

In a report created in June 2021, the NIJ stated the following:

"The relationship between immigration and crime has been the subject of much debate and great concern for public officials. Although there are arguments that stringent immigration enforcement policies are needed to combat increased risk of crime by undocumented immigrants, recent research suggests that those who immigrate (legally or illegally) are not more likely, and may even be less likely to commit crime in the US."

Several Colorado lawmakers echo the NIJ's findings.

However, not everyone believes those findings.

Take Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell. He's the only sheriff in Colorado to have an agreement with ICE that allows him to hold undocumented immigrants in the Teller County Jail at the request of immigration agents. He blames state law for allegedly keeping criminals on the streets.

"You as taxpayers have to pay even moreforthese people that shouldn't be here in the first place committing crimes and why do we want these people that come here to commit crimes, still committing crimes," Mikesell questioned when he sat down exclusively with 13 Investigates. "It doesn't make sense that taxpayers have to bear that burden."

Mikesell believes the substantial drop in undocumented immigrants with ties to criminal activity being arrested in Colorado is because of a 2019 Colorado law "Protect Colorado Residents From Federal Government Overreach."

That law prevents local law enforcement from placing people in their county jails on 48 holds at the request of federal immigration authorities. Mikesell said it also prohibits local law enforcement from alerting ICE when an undocumented immigrant, accused of a crime, enters any county jail in the state.

"They were attempting to stop any involvement ICE had with local agencies," Mikesell said. "They were really trying to prevent my agreement with ICE, a 287(G) agreement, from existing."

13 Investigatesspoke with Adrienne Benavidez, a former House member from Denver. She was a prime sponsor of the legislation.

"If you've been arrested and you're being held on some charge and you're in custody of the sheriff's office in jail, you're not being held on immigration matters under an arrest," Rep. Benavidez said. "The requests that were coming from ICE, werejust simply requests. They were not signed by a judge or anyone else. That was a real distinction. We don't do this for civil law, and that's not our role."

Before the law, the 48-hour holds, or "ICE holds," were used when an undocumented immigrant could bond out of jail on state charges or be released once they served their time or their case was dismissed.

This allowed ICE to detain undocumented immigrants and place them in the custody of the federal government and house them in ICE facilities until appearing before an immigration judge.

Mikesell's agreement with ICE could be squashed by a 2023 House bill that is currently awaiting Governor Jared Polis' signature.

That bill, HB23-1100, aims to ban ICE facilities and forbids sheriffs from using their jail for immigration arrests.

"We are hearing left and right that our local law enforcement doesn't have enough resources to provide the local law enforcement services that our communities deserve," State Rep. Lorena Garcia said. "Local law enforcement, state law enforcement should be focused on local and state law enforcement and not on federal policy."

Sheriff Mikesell is vehemently against this bill becoming law. He expressed countless reasons why this legislation is bad for Colorado, claiming it further handcuffs ICE from doing their jobs.

"The thing for ICE is that they're working hard to do it, but now it's going to be twice as much time to try to find these offenders because nobody's going to work with them, so you're releasing criminals back into the population too," Mikesell said.

Governor Polis's Office would not tell 13 Investigates if he planned to sign this bill into law. A spokesperson said they are still reviewing the bill in its "final form."

Nonetheless, Mikesell said he will continue to hold undocumented immigrants who wish to commit crimes in Teller County "accountable for their actions."

"So don't come in this county and think you're going to commit crime, get away with it, and walk away with it just on state charges," Mikesell said.

Do you have a tip you want 13 investigates to look into? Email us at 13investigates@krdo.com

Read more from the original source:
ICE agents arresting far fewer undocumented immigrants with ... - KRDO

EL PASO, Texas As changing policies, rampant misinformation and exasperated, fearful crowds converge in this desert city, faith leaders are striving to provide shelter and uplift.

Along with prayers, they are counseling migrants about the daunting challenges that await them on U.S. soil, with enormous backlogs in asylum hearings and the Biden administrations newly announced measures that many consider stricter than the existing ones known asTitle 42.

During Thursday morning Mass at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, a few blocks from the border with Mexico, the Rev. Daniel Mora prayed for goodwill in welcoming the crowds of migrants expected to arrive in the city and at the churchs gym-turned-shelter whenpandemic-era restrictions on asylum-seeking liftedovernight.

May the asylum promises of this country be renewed, Mora noted in the Mass intentions. In an office next to the historic sanctuary, one of his fellow Jesuits prepared to visit a shelter at a different El Paso parish to counsel migrants who already had crossed illegally and were detained.

One knows that that this is but one part, that were halfway on our way, said Tatiana Gamez, a Colombian mother who was released by immigration authorities to a small shelter run by the Catholic parish of St. Francis Xavier, just across from one of El Pasos three international bridges.

We dont know whats going to happen with asylum. But already to be here safe, its a relief, she added. She had been listening intently to one of the several daily legal talks that the Rev. Mike Gallagher, whos also an attorney with Jesuit Refugee Service/USA, gives newly released migrants.

Gamez and more than half a dozen family members, including a pregnant niece and the nieces 2-year-old daughter, decided to flee Colombia after being threatened over a piece of land they owned there.

They crossed illegally through a hole in the concertina wire that Texas National Guard soldiers laid out for 17 miles along the dusty Rio Grande riverbanks to prevent mass crossings whenTitle 42 was originally expected to be liftedin December.

We wanted to do things well, Gamez added in tears. But they saw more than 1,000 migrants lined up under the merciless sun and strong winds for a chance to be let in by U.S. officials, as has been happening for months.

Hearing that some migrants had slept out there for days under the constant threat of being kidnapped for ransom by Mexican cartels, and fearing a wave of rapid deportations starting Friday, they decided to slip through the hole and spent six days in detention before being released to the shelter.

Faith leaders said one reason for the big surge of migrants earlier this week was the widespread belief that the end of Title 42 restrictions would usher in more deportations of illegal migrants, who will now face a potential five-year ban from coming back to the U.S.

Trying to get in is their main priority, said Maria Sajquim de Torres, the domestic program director for Jesuit Refugee Service/USA, which also provides counselors in shelters so that migrants can begin to processthe traumas from rape to extortion most faced en route.

More than 1,000 migrants gathered outside the Sacred Heart shelter alone earlier this week. Authorities closed off the street in front of it last Sunday, fearing another deadly incident like the one wheremigrants were run over in Brownsville, Texas, Mora said.

Just a few milled about on Thursday, and the shelter whose maximum capacity is 140 and often has to turn away everyone except women with small children only hosted 89 migrants the previous night, Gallagher said.

He visits multiple shelters to explain to migrants who have been apprehended for crossing illegally the conditions of their release including the notice to appear in front of migration authorities and later before a judge to make their asylum case.

Some migrants have dates scheduled within a month of arrival in the cities where theyre hoping to go. Others have court appearances not scheduled until 2026 or beyond, since the asylum system is straining under historic backlogs.

Wearing a rosary like a necklace, Juaniela Castillo, a Venezuelan, listened intently as Gallagher deciphered her court date in June 2025 in Orlando, Florida, where she hopes to reach a family member.

She will need to find legal help to file an asylum application well before then within a year or shell lose this temporary relief shes been granted from deportation, Gallagher told her.

With her three children, ages 8, 7 and 3, she traveled through the notoriously dangerous Darien jungle in Panama. After two months on the road, she also passed through a gap in the wall near El Paso and was detained for six days before being released to the St. Francis Xavier shelter.

I still dont believe it, she said as her children smiled at the pigeons cooing in the shelters small, shaded patio. I never lost the faith, never, but one is like adrift, dependent on God.

In a hall set up with cots and tables, Susie Roman, a volunteer at shelter, said she noticed how confused migrants have been by changing policies, and feared the consequences of the latest switch.

Im scared theyre all going to be out there, and we cant help them, she said.

More here:
El Paso pastors provide migrants with shelter and counsel - Spectrum News

Border Patrol agents, equipped with sophisticated technology, attempt to apprehend migrants illegally crossing into the United States. But securing the border has become more difficult as agents are taken off the line to process unprecedented numbers of illegal migrants turning themselves in, instead of preventing smuggling, drug and human trafficking, and identifying national security threats. The end of Title 42 will push the numbers of migrants and got-aways even higher.

Todd Bensman, the Centers senior national security fellow, joins agents in New Mexico for a nighttime search for illegal migrants and warns of the got-away trends. Got-aways are unlawful border-crossers who are directly or indirectly observed making an unlawful entry into the United States, but who are not apprehended. Since the inauguration of President Biden, more than 1.5 million illegal migrants have been detected entering the country illegally, but have successfully evaded agents. And the monthly numbers continue to grow.

This population has a reason for not turning themselves in to Border Patrol it includes criminals, ineligible prior deportees, contraband smugglers, or people from terror-harboring nations who would naturally want to evade Border Patrol.

This creates public safety and national security concerns; these concerns were a key part of yesterdays debate in the U.S. House of Representatives and contributed to the passage of the Secure Border Act of 2023 (H.R. 2).

View post:
VIDEO: An Overwhelmed Border Patrol Is Missing an Epidemic of ... - Immigration Blog

A Mexican national reported to be an illegal immigrant wanted for the Texas shooting of five neighbors including a young boy, remained at large Monday morning.

More than 48 hours after the massacre in Cleveland, Texas, outside Houston, authorities are offering an $80,000 reward for information that leads to the capture of Francisco Oropesa.

Neighbors had allegedly asked Oropesa to stop firing his rifle in his yard late Friday so that a baby could sleep. The 38-year-old suspect, who authorities identified from video at the scene and by a Mexican consulate card, then entered the neighboring home and opened fire on five of the 10 people inside, allegedly killing the victims execution-style.

FBI Houston, which has taken over updates from the San Jacinto County Sheriff's Office, said Sunday evening that more than 250 law enforcement officers from over a dozen agencies were actively searching for Oropesa.

TEXAS FUGITIVE ACCUSED OF KILLING 5 WAS ILLEGALLY IN US; DEPORTED 5 TIMES

FBI Houston released the newest images of Francisco Oropesa and a prominent tattoo on his left forearm. Going forward, FBI said the subject's last name will be spelled "Oropesa" to better reflect his identity in law enforcement systems. (FBI Houston)

"FBI Houston and other local, state, & federal agencies will not stop assisting SJSO until he is captured and justice is brought on behalf of the five victims," they said.

FBI Special Agent in Charge James Smith announced Sunday an additional $25,000 FBI reward in connection with the investigation.

That increased the total reward amount to $80,000, up from the combined $55,000 being offered by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's office and multi-county crime stoppers.

"My heart is with this 8-year-old little boy. I don't care if he was here legally. I don't care if he was here illegally. He was in my county. Five people died in my county. And that is where my heart is. In my county, protecting my people to the best of our ability," San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers told reporters in an update Sunday afternoon.

Capers said that he was supposed to escort the widow of a constable who died about a year ago to a Texas police officers' memorial Sunday night but explained to her why he could not.

San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers, left, wipes his eye as FBI Houston Special Agent in Charge James Smith speaks during a news conference, Sunday, April 30, 2023 in Cleveland, Texas. The search for suspect Francisco Oropesa is ongoing. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

"My main intent and focus is 100% on capturing this suspect," Capers said. The sheriff also said he would not be at the vigil for the slain boy held at Northside Elementary in Cleveland. "Once again, I would love to be there, but I'm going to be here looking, searching for the suspect," Capers added.

Anyone with information that could lead to the arrest of Oropesa is asked to call 1-800-CALL-FBI with tips.

Young boys play outside their home as law enforcement continues to investigate the Cleveland, Texas, neighborhood Sunday, April 30, 2023, where a mass shooting left five people, including a child, dead two nights before. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

MEXICAN NATIONAL WANTED IN DEADLY TEXAS SHOOTING OF 5 NEIGHBORS COULD BE ANYWHERE, SHERIFF SAYS

"We're asking everyone for your help so we can bring this suspect or this monster, I will call him to justice," Smith said at the same press conference Sunday. "Right now we just don't know because if we did we would have him in custody. We do not know where he is. We do not have any tips right now where he may be."

"I can pretty much guarantee you, he's contacted some of his friends. We just don't know which friends they are," Smith added. "That's what we need from the public, any type of information, because right now we're just we're running into dead ends."

Mass shooting survivor Wilson Garcia becomes emotional during a vigil for his son, Daniel Enrique Laso, Sunday, April 30, 2023, in Cleveland, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Capers told reporters that two women were found lying on top of and trying to protect three surviving children inside the home Friday night. The three children were loaded into an ambulance and brought to a hospital, where it was discovered they had not been physically injured. Four adults were found deceased at the scene: Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; and Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18. Daniel Enrique Laso Guzman, age 8 or 9, was airlifted to a hospital, where he was declared deceased.

Another survivor, Wilson Garcia, whose wife Sonia and third-grade son were murdered, spoke to reporters at a vigil hosted Sunday afternoon at the school the boy had attended.

"My wife died, and my 9-year-old son died," Garcia said in Spanish. "What can I say, I am trying to stay strong for my children. My daughter kind of gets, understands things. It's hard when she comes to me and starts asking for her mom and her brother."

Wilson Garcia, center, holds a young girl during a vigil at Northside Elementary for his son Daniel Enrique Laso, Sunday, April 30, 2023, in Cleveland, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Garcia said another woman in the house told him to save himself.

"She told me to throw myself out of a window because my children were already without a mother," he said.

The deceased victims are said to have been from Honduras, according to local reports.

A source with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told Fox News that Oropesa has been previously deported, has "multiple" illegal re-entries on his record, and was last encountered by ICE in 2016. A second source, within the Department of Homeland Security, told Fox News that Oropesa had been deported five times between 2009-2016.

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Oropesawas previously ordered removed by an immigration judge on March 16, 2009, and subsequently removed by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Houston to Mexico on March 17, 2009, a spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told Fox News. At an unknown time and location, Oropesa unlawfully reentered the United States, and was apprehended and removed several more times by ICE ERO in September 2009, January 2012, and July 2016.

Oropesa, who sometimes uses the additional hyphenated surname Perez-Torres, has also been previously convicted in Montgomery County, Texas, of driving while intoxicated in January 2012, and sentenced to serve time in jail, the spokesperson said. As a result of the April 29 incident, the Cold Spring Texas Sheriffs Office issued an arrest warrant for Oropesa for homicide. He is wanted by the San Jacinto County Sheriff's Office in connection to the suspected shooter incident in Cleveland, Texas.

Fox News's Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

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Cleveland, Texas, shooting suspect remains at large; $80K reward offered for illegal immigrant turned fugitive - Fox News

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) did not miss an opportunity to label the victims of his states most recent high-profile shooting illegal immigrants, making the tone-deaf characterization in a statement on Sunday.

Abbott also referred to the suspected gunman in the case, Francisco Oropesa, as someone who is in the country illegally as he announced a reward for information leading to his capture.

Oropesa, 38, is believed to have gunned down five people, including an eight-year-old boy, after he was asked to stop firing a weapon in his front yard last week.

Ive announced a $50K reward for info on the criminal who killed 5 illegal immigrants Friday, Abbott tweeted alongside the statement, in which he was quoted as saying, Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of the five victims that were taken in this senseless act of violence.

I continue working with state and local officials to ensure they have all available resources to respond to this horrific crimes, he continued.

I thank the men and women in law enforcement who are tirelessly working to ensure this criminal is caught and brought to justice.

The governors statement drew immediate criticism, including from Star Trek actor George Takei, who has previously spoken out in favor of gun control.

This is despicable, he wrote. I would have thought bringing up the immigration status of the innocent victims of this senseless violence would be beneath even you. But I was wrong.

Abbotts offer of $50,000 comes in addition to the $80,000 reward currently being offered by the FBI, which admitted over the weekend that investigators do not know where [Oropesa] is.

We do not have any tips right now as to where he may be, said James Smith, the FBI special agent in charge in the Houston area. Right now, we have zero leads.

More than 200 law enforcement agents were actively searching for Oropesa on Sunday.

The five victims killed in the shooting have been identified as Sonia Guzman, 25; Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Juliza Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 8. All were from Honduras, according to officials.

Link:
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Calls Francisco Oropesa's Alleged Shooting Victims 'Illegal Immigrants' - The Daily Beast