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Feds detain 15 city inmates a week
Rule change leads to better access

By Kevin Vaughan, Rocky Mountain News
September 3, 2005

Federal authorities have taken advantage of a policy change that has given them more access to inmates in Denver's jails, an arrangement that has led to an average of 15 prisoners a week being detained on immigration charges.

On Friday, 96 of the 2,588 inmates in Denver's jails were the subject of "detainers" issued by the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, meaning once they complete their local sentences they will be turned over to federal authorities.

The increased activity is the result of a policy change in early June that saw the Denver Sheriff's Department, which operates the city and county jail, provide extensive information to ICE investigators. "Bottom line: The new arrangement is working well," said Carl Rusnok, a spokesman for ICE based in Dallas.

Sheriff's deputies previously notified federal authorities only when an inmate had an active immigration warrant.

But Denver's policy on information about foreign-born inmates was questioned after the May 8 shooting death of police officer Donnie Young. The man accused of the killing, a Mexican national in the United States illegally, had a record of minor run-ins with police.

In early June, Denver Manager of Safety Al LaCabe directed deputies at the sheriff's department to begin routinely compiling a list of foreign-born inmates in the city and county jails and to forward that list to immigration authorities.

Fred Oliva, Denver's undersheriff and director of corrections, said deputies are preparing the lists daily. They include the names, birth dates, charges and home countries for all foreign-born inmates.

Investigators from ICE have been examining the lists four times a week.

"They come down, they look at the list, they determine who they want to interview," Oliva said.

On Friday, 318 of the 2,588 inmates in the city and county jails were listed born outside the United States, Oliva said.

Rusnok said ICE investigators make decisions based, in large part, on the seriousness of the underlying crime. Rusnok spelled out a scenario where two inmates had similar immigration questions - one facing a murder charge, the other facing a misdemeanor theft charge. In that case, the ICE investigator would focus on the murder suspect.

Rusnok said ICE investigators already have identified 13 jail inmates they plan to interview Tuesday.

From those interviews, investigators will determine whether to issue immigration detainers.

Outside Denver, however, counties are handling the relationship with ICE differently. Some are providing the same kind of information. Others are notifying ICE only when an inmate already has a federal immigration warrant.

"That's basically a county-to- county issue," Rusnok said.