AURORA, Colo. — Denver7 is following up with a Venezuelan immigrant claiming that his younger brother was wrongfully detained during a major large-scale federal law enforcement operation in the Denver metro this week.
Denver7 spoke with Luis Chacón on Friday, when he was visiting his brother, Jhonathan, at the Aurora ICE processing center two days after he was detained outside their home at the Cedar Run apartment complex.
Chacón said they didn't realize there was an large-scale federal law enforcement operation outside of their complex Wednesday morning as they were driving out to head to the DMV, but said once they were stopped and questioned, they fully cooperated with officials.
“I showed them my documents, I showed them my brother’s documents, my brother is going through the asylum process," he said, in Spanish.
Chacón said his brother applied for asylum two months ago and had a court hearing coming up in September — but was still taken into custody.
“I have Temporary Protected Status (TPS) — so I showed them that, they let me go in that moment, but they forced my brother out of the car and detained him as if he was a criminal," he added.
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Denver7's Kristian Lopez spoke with an immigration attorney who said a pending asylum case or even TPS cannot stop U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from detaining someone if they believe they're a danger to the community or a flight risk.
However, Chacón strongly argues that his brother has no criminal record and isn't associated with any illegal activity.
He said they've since obtained a lawyer, but have no idea what will happen next.
“He says he’s surprised and scared because he’s going through a legal process and has asylum so he doesn’t understand why he was brought here without any criminal record," Chacón added. “If they see that someone is in the asylum process or has a legal immigration status to be in this country they don’t need to act this way, especially without any arrest warrant"
Denver7 checked Jhonathan's criminal background and found no record of any arrest in the state of Colorado.
“Our human rights need to be more respected when all we’re doing is working, not doing anything wrong. We have no arrest records and have never been arrested for any crime," he added.
We reached out to ICE to ask about this case but a spokesperson said their policy doesn't allow them to acknowledge or discuss any person's asylum case or process.
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