http://www.aspendailynews.com/article_16133


The federal Drug Enforcement Agency and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement have been targeting suspected illegal-immigrant drug dealers in the Roaring Fork Valley this week.

Agents with the DEA and ICE are not commenting on the downvalley roundups except to say they are happening and that more information will be released today. A spokesman with ICE said the DEA was the lead agency on the investigation and that ICE was asked to provide assistance.

Marie Munday, the Pitkin County Sheriff Office's liaison to the Latino community, said word of the roundups spread quickly throughout the Latino community and that an announcement of the roundups was made on a Spanish-language radio station.

"Everyone is in a panic again," Munday said. "A lot of employers are calling me because a lot of people aren't showing up for work."

At least one Aspen business was affected. Toppers restaurant did not open Wednesday because its kitchen staff did not show up for work.

Munday said the roundups are targeting illegal immigrants suspected of dealing drugs and that many arrest warrants are being served. Munday said she believed the crackdowns happened on Monday and Tuesday.

"There's more to come," she said.

She said she did not believe anyone without a warrant would be arrested.

Pitkin County Sheriff Bob Braudis said his agency was not asked for assistance in the operation but he believed one person had been arrested as of Wednesday afternoon.

Less clear is if Monday's arrest of a suspected drug dealer is tied to this week's arrests by the DEA and ICE.

On Monday the DEA, with the assistance of the Pitkin County Sheriff's Office, arrested Jose Jesus Sanchez-Ceja, 53, on four counts stemming from allegations he was supervising a cocaine-distribution ring. During the suspect's advisement hearing Tuesday in Pitkin County District Court, Deputy District Attorney Gail Nichols suggested that more arrests would be made based on information in the affidavit.

Later that Tuesday, Judge Erin Fernandez-Ely sealed the affidavit supporting the arrest of the suspect, an attendant at a car wash at the Aspen Airport Business Center.

Two weeks ago, ICE agents rounded up 34 alleged illegal immigrants throughout the valley as part of a nationwide initiative called Operation Return to Sender that led to thousands of illegals being deported. This week's roundups are not connected to Operation Return to Sender, Munday said.

Munday noted a shift in the political climate that has led to more stringent immigration enforcement.

"People are demanding that," Munday said. "Federal agencies are working hard to prove they aren't going to let people get away."