The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office violated federal law when it jailed a man for 47 days while waiting for immigration agents to pick him up on a detainer, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado.
Luis Quezada was arrested last May 23 for failing to appear in court on a traffic charge.
Quezada resolved the case in court three days later, and a judge ordered his release from jail.
Despite the order, Quezada was kept behind bars because Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed a detainer on him on suspicion Quezada was in the country illegally.
Local authorities may hold people on an ICE detainer for 48 hours. If ICE agents don’t pick up a prisoner in that time frame, then the Sheriff’s Office has to let them go.
“Without any legal authority whatsoever, Sheriff Ted Mink imprisoned our client and kept him in legal limbo for 47 days, with no charges pending, no opportunity to see a judge and no opportunity to post bail,” said Mark Silverstein, legal director for the ACLU of Colorado. “Our fundamental constitutional values prohibit depriving any person of liberty without due process of law.”
ICE picked up Quezada on July 14, and he posted $5,000 bail and was released.
“As soon as ICE instituted formal proceedings, he was eligible to post bail because he is not a flight or safety risk,” Silverstein said.
Jefferson County sheriff’s spokeswoman Jacki Kelley declined to comment on the lawsuit because county officials had not had a chance to research the ACLU’s allegations.
In 2008, the ACLU of Colorado received complaints that jails were holding people on detainers past the expiration date. In response, the ACLU sent letters to sheriff’s departments around the state to inform them of the 48-hour law and asked departments for a copy of their immigration-hold policies.
Jefferson County jail officials told the ACLU that they did not have an immigration policy, the lawsuit says.
In the lawsuit, Silverstein described Quezada as a Colorado resident. He declined to say whether Quezada was in the country illegally, only that Que zada is in the process of defending himself in immigration court.
Gail Montenegro, a spokeswoman for ICE, would not directly comment on Quezada’s case or why there was a 47-day wait to pick him up.
