ICE raid nets eight in Aspen (Aspen Daily News)

ICE raid nets eight in Aspen

by Andrew Travers, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Friday, May 2, 2008

Federal and local authorities raided a Spruce Street home in Aspen on Thursday morning, arresting eight people on immigration-related charges. The raid was part of an ongoing federal investigation into fraudulent identification document production.

Representatives from the agencies who participated in the raid — the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Aspen Police Department — declined to release the names of those detained or details of the wider operation.

Shortly before 9 a.m., the arrested were carted away from 560 Spruce Street in a 15-passenger van. They will be jailed in Park County, according to an ICE spokesman. Authorities confiscated a printer, an air gun, drug paraphernalia and a stolen wallet. The paraphernalia and wallet were turned over to the Aspen police.

Later in the evening, a group of men who said they were friends of the detainees loaded up several cars with clothing, personal effects and toiletries from the house, which is currently for sale. One of the men, who asked he not be named in this article, said the arrested were Mexican immigrants who worked locally as cooks and dishwashers.

“There were no criminals or drug dealers or thieves living here,” he said. “They were hard-working people, but if you’re illegal ICE can come take you away. Their employers are going to be hurting from this. The bomb dropped today.”

In recent years, ICE enforcement teams and morning raids like yesterday’s have been an increasingly common sight in the Roaring Fork Valley. Only 15 years ago, they were non-existent. During the interim, the immigrant population of the valley has boomed, while Colorado law has toughened and ICE has upped its manpower to track down criminal or fugitive illegal immigrants.