ICE Altercation With Protester in Colorado Prompts a Police Chief to Push Back

Brice Current, the police chief in the Durango, Colo., knew there was a problem the moment he saw the video of an immigration agent putting a protester into what the chief saw as a chokehold and throwing her down an embankment.

Immigration agents had arrested a Colombian man and his two children on their way to school, provoking a furious response from this liberal college town of 20,000 in the mountains of southwest Colorado. Dozens of residents — many with their arms linked — descended on the small Immigration and Customs Enforcement building where the family was being held, set up camp outside the razor-wire gates and tried to block authorities from removing the family from Durango.

What set the protest apart from similar clashes between residents and immigration agents in Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities was Chief Current’s determination that the masked federal agent involved in the scuffle had crossed a line and his request for an investigation. He said he even considered filing criminal charges himself against the agent.

“It appeared to be an out-of-policy and possibly illegal use of force,” he said in an interview at police headquarters.

The scene from Durango, captured by fellow protesters and put on social media, was violent and jarring, but no more so than many others across the country. Several protesters, including elected officials and a Democratic congressional candidate, have been arrested or charged with federal crimes at immigration detention centers. American citizens have been whisked into unmarked vehicles and charged with resisting arrest or attacking officers, though the people arrested have maintained they did no such thing.

Protesters, journalists and clergy have sued over federal agents’ use of tear gas and crowd-control munitions against protesters. A U.S. citizen who was violently thrown to ground in Chicago has vowed to “pursue all legal avenues” against the agents involved.

But so far, no local prosecutors are known to have filed criminal charges against immigration agents.

In an interview, Chief Current said that rather than bring charges himself, he decided that state investigators were better equipped to handle thorny legal questions of whether the agent had broken any laws, or could even be prosecuted in Colorado.

Federal agents have broad legal protections, and the Trump administration has argued that the Constitution puts federal officers out of reach of state laws when they are carrying out their duties.

Still, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation said it was investigating any “state criminal law violations during the incident,” and would send its findings to local prosecutors to make a decision about whether to file any charges.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation declined to comment further. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Sean Murray, the district attorney in Durango, said that before he made a decision about filing any charges, he would have to weigh whether laws were violated and whether the agent had immunity. If he did file a charge, he said he expected it would prompt reams of litigation.

Last month, when Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the former House Speaker, said local police could arrest federal agents who broke California law Ms. Pelosi’s assertion provoked a furious response from the Justice Department. Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, called such an arresting “illegal and futile,” and fired off a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and Ms. Pelosi warning them to “stand down or face prosecution.”

In Durango, Franci Stagi, 57, the protester who was involved in the altercation with the masked immigration agent, said she supported Colorado’s decision to investigate. The Times obtained videos which showed how the events unfolded from people on the ground, seen from three different angles.

“You can’t go around and just do that indiscriminately,” Ms. Stagi said. “You can’t pull somebody by their head.”

Ms. Stagi, a retiree who lives a mountain life of hiking, skiing and van camping, had driven to the ICE building after she saw social-media posts last Monday about the arrest of the Colombian father, Fernando Jaramillo-Solano, 45, and his 12-year-old daughter, Jana, and 15-year-old son, Kewin.

“They felt a sense of security because their case is active,” Mr. Orozco-Perez said.

Mr. Solano worked three jobs, and his wife did cleaning work, made empanadas and cared for the children in a rundown trailer park outside Durango. The family had no run-ins with local law enforcement, officials said.

Mr. Solano was driving Jana and Kewin to school that Monday when immigration agents stopped him at about 7:30 a.m. and pulled him from his car. He shouted to passers-by that his children were in the car.

His arrest turned out to be a case of mistaken identity, an ICE official in Denver later said during a court hearing reported earlier by The Denver Post. In Durango, Chief Current said he pressed ICE officials to at least release the two children from custody to reunite with their mother, but he was rebuffed.

Ms. Stagi said she does not attend many protests, but as a mother, she was outraged that two children could be arrested and held for more than 24 hours inside the ICE office that operates in a former carwash on the edge of Durango.

“They’re little kids,” she said.

Ms. Stagi’s confrontation with the immigration agent — who has not been identified by local law enforcement — occurred at about 6 a.m. Tuesday, according to videos from the protest.

The masked immigration agent was walking through a crowd of protesters when Ms. Stagi approached him, phone in hand, and asked, “You won’t even show your face?”

The agent hit her hand, knocking away the phone and possibly grabbed it. Ms. Stagi ran after him, saying, “Dude, you can’t take my phone.”

Ms. Stagi said she reflexively touched the agent’s back to get his attention. The instant she did, she said, he wheeled around, grabbed Ms. Stagi by the hair, put her into a chokehold, dragged her through the street and threw her down a grassy embankment.

Ms. Stagi said she realized in that moment she should not have touched the agent — an action that experts in police use of force said could be used to argue that the agent was acting reasonably.

“It was a knee-jerk reaction,” Ms. Stagi said. “I’m 5-2. I’m not assaulting him. I was just looking for my phone. He crossed the line.”

The protest again spiraled out of control later that day when more than a dozen federal officers — some in military-style gear — arrived to clear away protesters so agents could remove Mr. Solano and his children.

Videos show officers pulling the protesters away from the fence surrounding the ICE building and cutting through chains that protesters had put around the front gates. Officers pepper-sprayed protesters and fired crowd-control munitions at them. Some protesters appeared to push officers and throw water bottles.

Chief Current said the F.B.I. had opened an investigation into the clashes, raising the possibility that some demonstrators could face federal charges. An F.B.I. spokeswoman in Denver declined to comment, citing the government shutdown.

The protest broke up not long after the family was driven away, but a painful rift remains in Durango.

Chief Current blamed “bad decisions” by ICE for creating the unrest, but he also said that some demonstrators had turned the protest into a riot. Activists in Durango accused the police and city officials of not protecting the city’s residents, a charge leveled at other police departments dealing with the president’s immigration crackdown.

“They watched this community get brutally beaten,” Jay Conlon, a demonstrator, said. “They stood by and watched.”

Mr. Solano and his children were taken to a family detention center in Texas. They remained there on Monday, as politicians and activists in Colorado continued to call for their release.