A student from the University of Utah was arrested in Mesa County, Colorado, after local sheriffs shared details about her in a group chat that included federal immigration agents.
Caroline Dias Goncalves, 19, was stopped by Mesa County police officers on June 5 for following a semitrailer too closely. Police officers let her go after the stop, but she was stopped again by federal immigration officers just a few miles down the road, The Denver Post reported. Goncalves was then transferred to a federal immigration detention facility in Aurora, Colorado.
Goncalves arrived in the United States when she was 7 years old and remained after overstaying a tourist visa with her parents. The family has a pending asylum application.
A spokesperson for the Mesa County Sheriff's Office told The Denver Post that Goncalves' information was shared in the group chat as part of the agency's drug interdiction efforts. The spokesperson added that the office was unaware that federal agents would use Goncalves' information to arrest her.
Several Colorado statutes prohibit law enforcement officers from sharing non-public information with federal immigration agencies.
“This use of information is contradictory to Colorado law and was initially intended for the purpose of reducing illegal drug trafficking in Colorado," the spokesperson said.
Immigration advocates and lawyers condemned Goncalves' arrest.
"No one should have to live in fear that a routine traffic stop could lead to ICE detention," Raquel Lane-Arellano, communications manager with the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, said in a statement.
"Colorado has taken important steps over the past several years to disentangle local law enforcement from ICE, to ensure that all Coloradans—regardless of immigration status—can feel safe driving, going to school, or seeking help in an emergency," Annie Martinez, litigation director with the Colorado Center on Law & Policy, said in a statement. "When these laws are ignored, it’s not just a policy failure—it’s a violation of community trust and a threat to public safety."