(COLORADO SPRINGS) Recently, affiliate KXRM went on a ride-along with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Denver, as its officers conducted targeted enforcement actions on at-large fugitives from ICE in Colorado Springs.

From attending the early morning briefing, to witnessing ICE officers making arrests of “public safety threats,” to touring the Florence Sub-Office for processing, KXRM was able to get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into an arrest made by ICE officers and the steps taken thereafter. 

Morning briefing: Day of ride-along

Just before 5 a.m. on the day of KXRM’s ride-along with ICE Denver, our team met with officers at an undisclosed location where the morning briefing ensued. During the briefing, ICE officers identified targets, discussed a plan of action, and addressed safety concerns.

“So, we are going after some criminal targets, some at-large fugitives from ICE,” said Robert Guadian, Denver Field Office Director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations.

“This is what we do 365 days a year; 95% of these people have been released from county jails,” he said. “When you see what we do today, you’ll understand that my officers, myself, it’s built into our DNA to protect the community.”

According to Guadian, these operations are necessary to keep criminals off the streets.

“Current laws in the state of Colorado don’t allow us to make a safe transfer inside the jail, so we have to conduct these at-large operations looking for these people that we could have gotten in the jail, but instead we have to come out into this environment and get them either at work, at home, or in between,” he continued. “The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office cooperates with ICE to the maximum extent, and I’m very grateful for that.”

Denver Field Office Director: Assaults against ICE officers up nearly 400%

Guadian said it’s always “safety first” for his officers.

“We have experienced an increase in assaults against ICE officers, up nearly 400% in the last few months,” he said, “so I’ve directed my officers to transport in handcuffs, belly chains, and leg irons to prevent future occurrences of assaults against ICE officers on transport.”

According to Guadian, when ICE officers go on operations like this, they typically team up with interagency partners from the Department of Justice, calling it a “…whole government approach toward immigration enforcement.”

“Today, we have ATF with us. Typically, we will have the U.S. Marshals with us as well; DEA, HSI, other agencies join us in this effort,” he added.

For the ride-along, Guadian further explained that the two targets they were looking for that day are both considered fugitives from ICE and had immigration judges’ decisions against them for removal from the United States.

“They’ve absconded, meaning that they have not checked in with ICE, they have not reported when told to do so, so they are actively… evading arrest from ICE,” he said. “They are in the community, they are keeping a low profile, they don’t want ICE to arrest them.”

Three arrested during ride-along

During the ride-along, while the original targets were not arrested, three others were.

“The three individuals that we arrested today matched the descriptions of the targets that we were looking for,” Guadian said. “Once they left their residences in their car, we made a vehicle stop for those individuals; during the vehicle stop, we identified those individuals as being aliens illegally present in the United States, and they had criminal histories as well.”

ICE Denver officers made the following arrests during the targeted enforcement operation:

• Juan Padilla-Patino, 24, entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico.
• Angel Torres-Castro, 26, entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico. Torres-Castro has pending charges for driving under the influence in Colorado Springs.
• Samuel Gutierrez-Nunez, 46, entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico. Gutierrez-Nunez has two convictions for driving under the influence in the state of Colorado.

“As you saw, just to arrest one person, I have to have a team out there for hours waiting for this person to come out of their home, or go to work, or be out in the public in order for my teams to make those arrests,” explained Guadian.

“Every one of the arrests that were made today could have been made inside of a county jail in a safe and secure setting, but, unfortunately, in Colorado, sheriffs are not allowed to hold ICE detainees for longer than six hours,” he said.

Processing at the Florence Sub-Office

After the three were arrested, they were all taken to the Florence Sub-Office for processing, “…meaning they are issued a charging document, they are explained their rights, they may be entitled to an immigration hearing, [and] they may be scheduled for removal,” Guadian said.

FOX21 also spoke with Bennie Salazar, the Florence Sub-Office Supervisory Detention & Deportation Officer for ICE Enforcement & Removal Operations, who explained how long processing normally takes.

“In this facility here, we have no beds, or blankets, or pillows, so at this facility, it will be 12 hours or less before they are moved to an over 72-hour facility where it does have those amenities,” Salazar said. “The processing normally takes about an hour to two hours, depending on what type of case it is.”

From Florence, they were then taken to the ICE Aurora Detention Facility, which holds about 1,500 detainees.

“At that facility… we have immigration judges that hear cases, so they will be scheduled for immigration hearings, and an immigration judge will decide whether the person is removed from the United States,” Guadian explained.

ICE’s focus is “on the worst first.”

Guadian emphasized that the mission of ICE officers remains the same:

“ICE’s focus, when it comes to enforcement, is taking enforcement actions on the worst first, meaning those aliens that have entered the country illegally and have committed a crime while here. They are public safety risks; they are a priority for my officers to take off the streets. We are prosecuting when we can, and we are removing as quickly as possible,” he said.

Watch the full, exclusive report in the video player at the top of this article.