Longmont and federal authorities say reports of a federal police vehicle stopping immigrants and asking for residency paperwork in the city on Friday are unfounded.
Rumors circulated Friday morning that a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in a marked police vehicle was asking drivers for proof of citizenship near Trail Ridge Middle School, igniting fear as well as skepticism in the community.
Longmont Public Safety Chief Mike Butler said that the vehicle in question belongs to an employee of the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Protection Service who lives in Longmont and was driving to work on a route that goes past the school at 1000 Button Rock Drive.
“All rumors and stories related to this vehicle being associated with traffic stops to determine citizenship are not accurate,” Butler wrote in an email.
Earlier in the day, Butler said in an interview that Longmont police had not been able to substantiate any of the rumors that officials had heard about ICE’s presence in Longmont.
The Public Safety Department later released a statement addressing the issue.
The emotional response follows President Donald Trump’s signing last week of a pair of executive orders targeting undocumented immigrants, including an order to build a border wall and another to recruit local law enforcement to act as ICE agents by detaining undocumented immigrants.
ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok, based in Dallas, said the enforcement unit conducts operations daily nationwide, though he wasn’t sure whether any were underway in Longmont on Friday.
“It’s not like we do operations three days once a year,” he said. “It’s ongoing every single day throughout the country. It’s very, very possible that one of our folks was there.”
Because the vehicle seen in Longmont belonged to the Federal Protection Service, Rusnok ultimately directed questions to the Department of Homeland Security.
Susanna B. Marking, a Federal Protection Service spokeswoman, said, ” the mission of the Federal Protective Service is to protect federal facilities, as well as the employees and visitors inside those facilities.”
FPS generally does not set up or work checkpoints beyond federal property, she said.
“While FPS does protect several federal facilities in the Longmont area, we don’t have any records to indicate that an FPS law enforcement officer stopped any vehicles today in that area,” Marking said.
Longmont immigration attorney Ian McKinley said Friday morning that two women he works with received a text from the same friend who reported she had been stopped by an ICE agent asking for her and her daughter’s paperwork.
McKinley, before the rumor was shot down by local police, said it would be unprecedented for ICE to be on the hunt. Later, after learning the facts, he said it’s an example of how the community is extremely nervous in the face of the new national leadership.
“It’s a terrifying rumor and I already had clients calling me today saying they heard the rumor and it makes them nervous to bring their children to school,” McKinley said.
A message posted to a private Facebook group called Indivisible Front Range Resistance, which has more than 2,800 members, claimed an ICE agent was stopping ethnic-looking people in Longmont. It was paired with a photo of the federal police vehicle.
The Times-Call has been unable to track down the originator of the initial message.
St. Vrain Valley School District spokesman Matt Wiggins said officials at the middle school did not know of any disturbances at the school or in the area.
El Comite Executive Director Marta Moreno said she received less than 10 calls by 2:30 p.m. Friday about the incident. She said she feels responsible to follow up on reports to calm fears.
“Because of what’s going on, people are extra cautious,” Moreno said.
State Rep. Joseph Salazar, D-Thornton, called a Times-Call reporter to find out more information, saying he is keeping the governor’s office informed and that “people are on edge.”
He said he was alerted by someone who saw the message on the Facebook group’s page.
Before the day unfolded, Laurel Herndon, executive director of the Immigrant Legal Center of Boulder County, said she was worried that the report could be detrimental by creating hysteria if it was untrue.
“I have confidence in what the Longmont police department in saying,” she said.
Amelia Arvesen: 303-684-5212, arvesena@times-call.com or twitter.com/ameliaarvesen
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