{"id":21329,"date":"2025-07-22T22:41:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T04:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/la-plata-county-sheriff-discusses-controversial-tactics-used-by-immigration-officers\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:05:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:05:57","slug":"la-plata-county-sheriff-discusses-controversial-tactics-used-by-immigration-officers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/la-plata-county-sheriff-discusses-controversial-tactics-used-by-immigration-officers\/","title":{"rendered":"La Plata County sheriff discusses controversial tactics used by immigration officers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A 49-year-old Durango man was found dead Sunday from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the La Plata County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/span>Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Controversial tactics employed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were the center of Indivisible Durango\u2019s regular meeting on Saturday at the Durango Public Library, where La Plata County Sheriff Sean Smith addressed residents\u2019 concerns about immigration law enforcement.<\/p>\n

He referenced recent reports of immigration officers searching for individuals at the La Plata County Courthouse, dismissed by court officials<\/a>, and said the 6th Judicial District is complicated.<\/p>\n

\u201cYears ago, we pushed to have one of the only combined local, state, federal courthouses in the country. So we actually have a U.S. federal court in our courthouse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He reiterated what Jeffrey Wilson, 6th Judicial District Court chief judge, said in a statement to The Durango Herald<\/em> last week. The agent was attending a federal court matter related to a criminal fentanyl case. He could have been getting a warrant on a criminal matter signed by a federal judge, for example.<\/p>\n

\"Smith\"
Smith<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The situation is complicated because some federal agents are playing dual roles. He said immigration violations are typically civil offenses subject to administrative laws, not criminal offenses subject to criminal law.<\/p>\n

Agents involved in Enforcement and Removal Operations, or ERO, are the agents people think of when ICE detentions and arrests are reported, he said.<\/p>\n

ICE performs enforcement and removal. Homeland Security Investigations, another branch of ICE under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, used to focus on criminal activities with an international component \u2013 cartels, for example \u2013 but HSI\u2019s breadth of enforcement has been expanded to include enforcement and removal, muddying the waters, he said.<\/p>\n

Colorado law prohibits civil arrests in and on the premises of courthouses. The law also requires officers to identify themselves and report why they are there, Smith said.<\/p>\n

The presence of immigration officers in the courthouse stokes fear, even though an agent could be at the courthouse for a matter unrelated to civil enforcement altogether.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is stoking that big word that we\u2019re all talking about: fear,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

\"La
La Plata County Sheriff Sean Smith addressed community concerns about federal immigration officers\u2019 conduct at an Indivisble Durango meeting at the Durango Public Library on Saturday attended by more than 120 people. (Christian Burney\/Durango Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Other statements about courthouse reports<\/div>\n

Enrique Orozco-Perez, co-executive director of Compa\u00f1eros: Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center, made a similar point in a written statement posted on social media<\/a> following the story about immigration officers being seen at the courthouse.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe acknowledge your clarification and the court\u2019s position that the agents were present for unrelated federal proceedings,\u201d he said. \u201cHowever, we remain deeply concerned about what we have documented and the broader implications for immigrant safety and trust in our public institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orozco-Perez said the same agents seen at the courthouse had previously been seen in plainclothes and masks pursuing detentions of suspected undocumented immigrants without warrants; observed surveilling, questioning and detaining immigrants; and the agents\u2019 behavior at the courthouse \u2013 \u201cpositioning themselves at exits, masked faces, avoidance of identifying themselves\u201d \u2013 is incongruent with courthouse protocol.<\/p>\n

He also said the dual federal and state jurisdiction at the courthouse doesn\u2019t invalidate state law prohibiting civil detentions at courthouses.<\/p>\n

Michael Dougherty, candidate for Colorado attorney general, released a statement last week responding to concerns of La Plata County residents regarding possible ICE activity at the courthouse.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn these scary times, it is essential that each one of us stands up and fights for our communities. The key is knowing what rights and protections exist under the rule of law,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the purpose of these Know Your Rights trainings \u2013 to arm people with the knowledge and information they need at this especially critical time. For immigrants, community members, and employers, this information is essential.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reporting activity<\/div>\n

On Saturday, Smith encouraged residents to familiarize themselves with their rights. He said residents risk being charged with obstruction of justice or similar charges if they interfere with immigration agents during a stop.<\/p>\n

If immigration officers don\u2019t identify themselves, record them, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf those officers are not identifying themselves, then they\u2019re not doing what they\u2019re required to do legally, and what we need is evidence to prove that\u2019s not happening,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Smith said he filed a complaint about one HSI officer who detained a suspected undocumented immigrant in Bayfield<\/a> on July 2.<\/p>\n

In a recording, the HSI agent said, \u201cYou should love America, not Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith did not elaborate on the nature of his complaint. He did not immediately respond to a request for more information on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

cburney@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018big word that we’re all talking about: fear\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[950,28,904,52],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-21329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-durango","tag-headlines","tag-immigration","tag-law-enforcement"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21329"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77263,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21329\/revisions\/77263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21329"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=21329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}