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Colorado Sheriff Turns Undoucumented Domestic Violence Victims Over to ICE

May 25, 2012 (1 min read)

"An undocumented immigrant detained by immigration authorities after being arrested in a domestic-violence incident — in which she was the victim — is speaking out because she doesn't want others to go through the same ordeal.  Virginia Mancinas Urtusuastegui, 35, of Glenwood Springs, said being in custody for two weeks under a deportation order, even though her misdemeanor charge of false reporting was dropped for lack of evidence, makes her reluctant to call police for help.  “If I have another problem like this one, I would never call the police,” Mancinas said. “A lot of people who know what happened to me won't call the police. They don't want to go to jail. They would rather suffer through what they are facing.” Her case illustrates a policy battle that erupted locally this week between the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado and Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario." - Heather McGregor, Glenwood Springs Post Independent, May 25, 2012.

More from the Denver Post, the Associated Press, and the ACLU here and here.