Outrage grows over Colorado sanctuary policies
ICE has said that the crime could have been prevented if they had the opportunity to take the suspect into custody; reaction from former acting ICE director Tom Homan.
A man in Colorado who was attacked at his home last month believes one of the alleged suspects – an illegal immigrant from Cuba whom U.S. Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had placed a detainer on – should have been deported before the incident could happen, a report says.
Julio Cesar Banda-Estrada, a Mexican national living in Aurora, spoke to KDVR this week as Osmani Garces-Ortiz, 39, is facing charges including first-degree assault and attempted murder.
Garces-Ortiz, who is accused of firing a gun at Banda-Estrada’s foot on Nov. 17, had been jailed on unrelated charges weeks prior to the incident. But he was released from bond on Oct. 28 as Arapahoe County deputies -- under state law -- could not honor a detainer ICE had placed on him, the station added.
“Why are you going to leave a person here that is a criminal, knowing they’re a criminal?” Banda-Estrada, speaking through a translator, said during an interview with KDVR.
"Now that he's already done this, he's an assassin, he's no good," he added.
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ICE told the Denver Post that Garces-Ortiz entered the U.S. illegally in 2008 through Florida and was granted an immigration waiver. That waiver reportedly expired in 2012 and his request for permanent residency was then denied in 2015.
Last month, ICE placed a detainer on Garces-Ortiz as he was being held in Arapahoe County on charges of possessing drugs, violating a protection order and criminal trespassing, according to KDVR.
The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office on Oct. 28 notified ICE that Garces-Ortiz was going to be released from jail — then let him walk out two hours later. A spokeswoman from the agency told KDVR they couldn’t send an agent there in time in hopes of taking Garces-Ortiz into custody before his release.
On Nov. 17, Garces-Ortiz and another man, identified as Gonzalo Gonzalez-Gomez, allegedly attacked Banda-Estrada at his Aurora residence.
A police affidavit viewed by The Denver Post says Banda-Estrada told investigators that Gonzalez-Gomez is his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend. Gonzalez-Gomez allegedly stabbed Banda-Estrada in his arm with a knife and Garces-Ortiz allegedly fired a round near his feet before fleeing the scene, it added.
“Julio stated that he had received vague death threats from Gonzalo and Osmani in the past because they believed Julio stole Gonzalo’s girlfriend,” The Denver Post reported the affidavit as saying.
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Garces-Ortiz finally was arrested on Nov. 21 and now has another immigration detainer placed on him. Gonzalez-Gomez, 37, was also arrested on charges of attempted murder, first-degree assault, first-degree burglary, felony menacing and bail violation.
Following Garces-Ortiz’s arrest, Banda-Estrada told a KDVR photographer that he doesn’t have the legal paperwork to be in the U.S. either. ICE did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment on the matter at the time of this publishing. Gonzalez-Gomez's immigration status was not immediately known.
