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Are Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents coming to Eagle County? Law enforcement, school officials quell fears at community meeting

It is 'highly unlikely' that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents will come to Eagle County. They will not be assisted by local officers

The school district, nonprofits and local law enforcement hosted a community partners meeting at the Edwards Early Learning Center on Monday, Feb. 3, to share information on what to do if Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents come to Eagle County.
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily

On Monday, Eagle County School District, several local nonprofits that work with children, and local law enforcement agencies led a community partner meeting at the Edwards Early Learning Center to discuss concerns related to recent changes in federal immigration policies.

The bottom line: Officials said it is highly unlikely that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will come to Eagle County. If they do, the school district, local nonprofits and law enforcement have put together resources for community members to utilize.

Shortly after taking office, the Trump administration repealed the “sensitive locations” policy, which named spaces like schools and hospitals as safe from Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests, interviews, surveillance and more. This prompted an uptick in fear among immigrants nationwide.



The Eagle County School District has not seen any Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity yet, said Melisa Rewold-Thuon, one of the district’s assistant superintendents. “We don’t believe that we are at any threat right now,” she said.

If Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents do visit schools, the district has plans.

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If Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents come to schools

When families enter their students in school, the district does not ask about immigration status. “We are legally barred from asking about that information,” said Amber Gonzales, the district’s multilingual instruction coach.

The district also does not share information families fill out when registering their student for school or on free or reduced lunch forms, for example, about the language a family speaks at home.

“That is private information we use in the school district to provide support for students and for families,” Gonzales said. “If we don’t have accurate information about our children, we can’t educate them in the best way possible.”

If Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents do show up at schools, they will be asked to show a warrant for that day signed by a federal judge.

Next, the district will contact the family of whoever the agents are asking to speak with.

If the agents ask questions of district staff, “if we don’t know anything, we are just going to say, ‘I don’t know,'” Rewold-Thuon said. “We are not sharing any student information with them.”

Last week, there was a false report that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had pulled over a school bus in Gypsum, leading to some students being kept home from school.

If there is a verified Immigration and Customs Enforcement visit at a school, the district will “let proper authorities know … and share that through the proper channels,” said Matt Miano, the district’s chief communications officer.

One concern the school district is monitoring is that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents might take parents into custody while their kids are at school. That happened once before, in 2016, Rewold-Thuon recalled.

The district is urging families to update their emergency contact information with this type of scenario in mind, so staff can safely place students with the parents’ intended guardians if needed. The district is also asking that parents communicate these plans to their children.

“We want our families to have a plan if they believe they’re at risk,” Rewold-Thuon said.

While the district is not allowed to disseminate legal advice to families, it is working with community partners to pass along information on what to do if someone is approached by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents at home, at a traffic stop or while out in the community.

The district has directed teachers not to discuss immigration-related concerns with students unless students bring the subject to them (outside of regular class content), citing that parents have different strategies for addressing immigration-related topics with their children. “We don’t want to cause more trauma in our community than what we already have,” Rewold-Thuon said.

Eagle County’s law enforcement agencies cannot — by state law — do immigration enforcement work for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily

Local law enforcement legally cannot — and will not — do immigration work

Avon Chief of Police Greg Daly said local law enforcement officers will not do immigration enforcement work.

“Our role is community policing, to serve our community,” Daly said. “We do not do federal immigration enforcement.”

In Colorado, local law enforcement officers are not permitted to serve as agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in conducting immigration enforcement. Section 287(g) of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act permits the Department of Homeland Security to deputize local law enforcement officers to do immigration enforcement, but the Colorado state legislature passed a law barring this in 2019.

In July 2024, the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld that local law enforcement agencies in Colorado are prohibited from arresting or detaining people based on their immigration status.

The recent information populated through social media about Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents coming to Vail and other areas in Eagle County is unfounded, Daly said. “There are too many people putting bad information out on social media,” he said. “That is extremely unhealthy for our community. … Please don’t post stuff you don’t know about.”

The idea of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents visiting schools, hospitals, churches and other sensitive locations in Eagle County is “highly, highly, highly unlikely,” Daly said.

If agents do go to schools, they are likely looking for an adult staff member. “They are not going to look for a child,” Daly said.

Daly encouraged the community to avoid dwelling on the possibility of federal agents enacting immigration enforcement in Eagle County. “Don’t spend so much energy focusing on things that are, more likely than not, not going to happen,” he said.

When conducting traffic stops, Eagle County’s local law enforcement officers will never ask for documentation, Daly said. “We do not ask those questions …(and) we can’t do anything about it, anyway,” he said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents could make a traffic stop, but it is “just unheard of,” Daly said.

Daly’s primary concern is that the rumors circulating will prevent people from allowing local law enforcement to do their jobs.

“We do not want (people) afraid to call 911, that there is going to be some immigration impact. There is not,” Daly said. “If you are a witness or a victim of a crime, your immigrant status is never going to be questioned by our department. It has absolutely nothing to do with our job and how we do it.”

How ICE can get involved with local cases

If someone is arrested, however, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents may become involved.

Police forces like Avon and Vail fingerprint those they arrest. The fingerprints are sent to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, which shares them with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s database. The Federal Bureau of Investigation shares fingerprints with the Department of Homeland Security, which has an algorithm that can put people on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement radar.

Another way to get on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s radar is to remain in the country following a self-deportation date given at a deportation trial, Daly said.

A third way is to have one’s information entered into the Colorado Crime Information Center database, which could also end up with the Department of Homeland Security.

Enforcement and Removal Operations is the division of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement that seeks people out and arrests them. Daly called it “highly unlikely” that these agents will come to Eagle County.

“I’m not saying they don’t or can’t come up here, but I can tell you that their focus right now is Aurora and Denver. They are after high-value criminal targets.”

If police officers visit community members’ homes, he suggested they ask, “‘Who are you?'” and local law enforcement will show their badges to prove their identities.

It is not illegal for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to misrepresent themselves as local law enforcement when attempting to gain access to a party they are pursuing. However, this is “very, very unlikely,” Daly said.

Avon Chief of Police Greg Daly emphasized that it is “highly unlikely” that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will come to Eagle County. It is imperative, he said, that the community continues to put their trust in local law enforcement.
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily archive

Mountain Dreamers has resources for community members concerned about immigration policy impacts

The nonprofit Mountain Dreamers is an immigrant support and advocacy group founded in Summit County, with an office in Eagle.

Mountain Dreamers is committed to serving as a trusted and reliable source of information. Any confirmed, useful information it receives will be posted on its social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram, as well as on its website.

The website also contains a “Know Your Rights” page, which contains information in English and Spanish for people who might be concerned about their immigration status, interactions with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, or how to build an emergency preparedness plan.

Mountain Dreamers Program Coordinator Javier Pineda mentioned that while Immigration and Customs Enforcement may be focused on arresting criminals, other undocumented immigrants may become “collateral damage. Whoever’s in the way is going to get affected by it.”

Mountain Dreamers’ “Know Your Rights” page can be accessed through its website, MountainDreamers.org.

A resource guide assembled by Mountain Youth is available for the community on its website.


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