Public safety or politics? Mesa County sues Polis over sanctuary crackdown

By Jason Hopkins | Daily Caller

One of Colorado’s biggest counties is taking on the state’s “unconstitutional” sanctuary law after it was used to crack down on a sheriff’s deputy who helped federal immigration authorities.

The Board of Mesa County Commissioners is moving forward with its lawsuit against a Democrat-led sanctuary law that prohibits local law enforcement in Colorado from sharing personal information about a foreign national with federal immigration authorities, the Daily Caller News Foundation confirmed. The lawsuit was filed after state officials sued a Mesa County sheriff’s deputy for helping Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and effectively forced him out of the job.

“The Constitution makes clear that immigration is a federal responsibility, not something to be fractured by a patchwork of conflicting state laws,” Mesa County Commissioner Bobbie Daniel said to the DCNF. “Our counter suit is about defending that principle, protecting our deputies, and ensuring that Mesa County — and every county in Colorado — can uphold the rule of law.”

The outcome of the sanctuary battle in Colorado — one of the many sanctuary jurisdictions targeted by the Trump administration — could carry national implications.

Colorado Democrats in May passed SB 25-276, a bill that prohibits sheriff’s offices and police departments from sharing foreign national’s identifying information with ICE for purposes of assisting in investigations or enforcement matters. Colorado Republicans — a minority in the state legislature — vehemently protested its passage, arguing it incentivizes illegal immigration and risks public safety.

The legislation was among many bills Democrat Gov. Jared Polis has signed and other executive actions he’s taken in recent years that restrict cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. The Department of Justice (DOJ) currently identifies the entire state of Colorado as a sanctuary jurisdiction.

On June 5 — roughly two weeks after Polis signed the sanctuary bill into law — Mesa County Sheriff’s Deputy Alexander Zwinck stopped a 19-year-old nursing student along an interstate for allegedly following a semi-truck too closely, according to court documents. Zwinck soon discovered that the driver, Caroline Dias Goncalves, was a Brazilian national living in the U.S. on an expired visa.

While the sheriff’s deputy ultimately allowed her to leave, he shared her information in a Signal chat between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities, according to court documents. ICE was soon able to locate Goncalves and detain her, and she remained in an ICE detention center in Aurora, Colorado, for roughly two weeks before being released on bond.

Activists opposed to immigration enforcement began to speak out in support of Goncalves, who is considered a “dreamer” due to her arrival in the U.S. at a young age, and a GoFundMe was launched in her name. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat who is currently running to become the next governor of Colorado, dramatically escalated the issue in July by filing a lawsuit against Zwinck, alleging he violated the policies established under the sanctuary law.

“The lawsuit asserts that Deputy Zwinck had no right to share, or inquire into, the driver’s personal identifying information for the purpose of assisting with federal civil immigration enforcement and asks the court for an order enjoining the deputy from engaging in similar unlawful conduct in the future,” Weiser’s press release stated at the time.

The Colorado Attorney General’s lawsuit suggested Zwinck could be hit with up to a $50,000 fine per every violation of the sanctuary law.

The sheriff’s office confirmed to the DCNF that Zwinck has resigned, but declined to comment on the matter further. A lawyer for the former sheriff’s deputy did not respond to a request for comment.

In response to Zwinck’s resignation, Colorado’s top prosecutor decided to drop the lawsuit altogether. Weiser told a local media outlet at the time that the law Zwinck was accused of violating is only applied to state and local government employees, and left open the possibility of suing him again if he returned to state or local employment.

However, a court battle between Colorado Democrats and Mesa County is not over.

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