| Print Sep 10, 2008 6:45 am US/Mountain
Police, ICE Agents Disagree On Hernandez Case
Reporting
Shaun Boyd AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) ― Federal immigration officials fired back Tuesday after accusations they let an illegal immigrant free before he allegedly hit and killed three people in Aurora last week.

Francis Hernandez faces multiple charges, including vehicular homicide, in connection with the deadly accident at an ice cream store near Havana and Mississippi last Thursday night.

Hernandez had been arrested 16 times before the accident, most recently in April when Aurora police said they asked Arapahoe County's Sheriff's Office to check his immigration status.

Sheriff Grayson Robinson told CBS4 he believes that happened.

"But at the same time, we cannot produce any documentation that we made that inquiry, so I will stand that my staff tells me they made the inquiry," Robinson said. "We're not able to document it, so I can't say that we did in fact make the inquiry."

"We have been unable to find any indication that any law enforcement agency has contacted us about Mr. Hernandez," said Tim Counts, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "We did, on our own, after we had seen news reports about the accident, our agents did reach out and interview Mr. Hernandez and it was at that point after several tries that he finally admitted that he was in the country illegally and was from Guatemala."

Robinson said even if they had contacted ICE agents last April, it is unlikely they would have detained Hernandez because he was suspected of misdemeanors at the time.

ICE agents typically only issue detainers for suspected illegal immigrants for serious felonies or violent offenses.




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