Five sheriff’s deputies from Colorado are being disciplined after a college student spent two weeks in a federal immigration detention center last month after a routine traffic stop.
An administrative review concluded that Sheriff’s Deputy Alexander Zwinck shared information on a Signal group chat that included federal immigration agents after he had pulled over Caroline Dias-Goncalves, 19, a student at the University of Utah, Mesa County Sheriff Todd Rowell said in a statement Wednesday.
The agents then used that information to track Dias-Goncalves down and arrest her. She was taken to a detention facility in Aurora, where she was held for 15 days before being released on bond.
“The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office should not have had any role in the chain of events leading to Miss Dias-Goncalves’s detention,” Rowell said.
Colorado law restricts coordination between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. It prohibits state and local law enforcement from providing information about a person’s immigration status to federal officials or disclosing personal identifying information to immigration authorities.
“I regret that this occurred. I apologize to Miss Dias-Goncalves,” Rowell said.
Zwinck pulled Dias-Goncalves over while she was driving on Interstate 70 outside Loma on June 5. Zwinck claimed Dias-Goncalves was driving too close to a semi-truck.
The traffic stop lasted about 20 minutes and Zwinck released Dias-Goncalves with a warning. Shortly after she exited the highway, federal immigration agents stopped her, arrested her and took her to the Aurora detention facility, where she was held until June 20.
Born in Brazil and raised in Utah since she was 7, Dias-Goncalves is one of nearly 2.5 million people living in the United States known as “Dreamers,” young immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children. Dias-Goncalves arrived on a visa that expired over a decade ago and has a pending asylum case.
In interviews conducted as part of the review, Zwinck claimed he did not know he was violating any laws or policies when he shared Dias-Goncalves’ information and location with federal authorities in a group chat meant to discuss drug crackdown efforts.
According to the review’s findings, Zwinck was involved in at least four other incidents last month in which the information he shared on the group chat following his traffic stops led to federal immigration enforcement actions.
Zwinck also told investigators that he had received and read two department-wide emails from the sheriff’s office last year and in January, both outlining how deputies should interact with immigration authorities.
The review concluded there was “a preponderance of evidence” showing that Zwinck as well as Sheriff’s Deputy Erik Olson, who was on the group chat, and their supervisor, Sgt. Joe LeMoine, “acted outside of agency policy.”
Zwinck was placed on unpaid administrative leave for three weeks and Olson for two. Both will be reassigned to patrol. LeMoine was suspended without pay for two days.
Lt. David Holdren, LeMoine’s supervisor, received a letter of reprimand and Holdren’s supervisor, Capt. Curtis Brammer, was provided documented counseling.
Earlier this month, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser filed a lawsuit against Zwinck, alleging that he had violated Colorado laws limiting cooperation between local and federal immigration authorities.
Rowell said the lawsuit “sends a demoralizing message to law enforcement officers across Colorado” and urged Weiser to “apply the law equally to all law enforcement and government officials instead of making Deputy Zwinck an example.”
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