Eagle County sheriff confirms an uptick in ICE activity as rumors swirl

Eagle County Sheriff James van Beek confirmed on Thursday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been operating in Eagle County this week but said he couldn’t confirm specific reports that have circulated rapidly on social media.

Alex Sánchez, president and CEO of Voces Unidas de las Montañas, a nonprofit organization that advocates for Latinos on the Western Slope, said some individuals who work at a local food truck were detained on Tuesday by ICE agents. But posts circulating on Facebook that ICE agents detained the individuals after approaching the food truck at Freedom Park in Edwards are inaccurate, according to multiple sources close to the incident. A video obtained by the Vail Daily shows agents apprehending individuals on Highway 6 in Edwards. It’s also unclear how many individuals were detained. 

Van Beek said he’s seen the discussion on Facebook about the incident but couldn’t confirm any details. He said his contact with federal agents has been limited to their alerting him that they’re in the area to avoid potential conflicts, adding that he was told agents would be operating in Edwards.

“I’m hearing kind of what you’re hearing,” he said. “The only thing we know is they said, ‘We picked up a couple of people.’ We just know they were in particular areas, but we can’t confirm anything. I don’t know because they’re not bringing them to my facility. They’re not dealing with us at all.”

Sánchez said that while ICE agents have been active in Eagle County since President Trump took office in January, the number of ICE sightings and reports of detainments has increased significantly this week.

Voces Unidas has received close to 100 calls per day regarding ICE activity this week on the immigration hotline it opened when Trump took office, he said.

“We have confirmed since January 2025 many incidents in Eagle proper up and down the Eagle Valley corridor throughout the months, and we make that public on our social media every morning,” he said. “We are seeing an uptick of activity over the last couple of days in the Eagle County region.”

Before this week, Van Beek said it had been a while since federal agents had alerted his office of their presence in the region. 

“They come and go,” he said. “I guess this week you can say it’s kind of gone up a little bit because we knew they were in the area.”

Voces Unidas issued an alert over its social media accounts on Thursday morning warning Eagle, Garfield, and Pitkin County residents of confirmed elevated ICE activity, following a letter Sánchez put out on Wednesday on the same subject.

“It is evident to us that there is an organized campaign of some sort with ICE primarily doing activities in the Tri-County region, the Eagle, Garfield, and Pitkin County region,” he said. “Yesterday, we declared that there is some intentional campaign that is being targeted in our region. We don’t know how long it will last. We don’t know how many operations they have planned, but we have alerted our community.”

While some detained individuals have been searched for by name by ICE, others have been taken into custody without known intent, he said. 

Sifting through the rumors

Voces Unidas publishes ICE detainments on its social media accounts to keep the community informed after confirming the event with local law enforcement, on-scene witnesses, and any reachable family members.

“In our communities, there’s a lot of misinformation and rumors. We don’t need to traumatize our community further if unneeded,” Sánchez said. “We’re accountable to the community. We serve the community. And so we feel a sense of responsibility.”

He said Voces Unidas has been unable to verify the rumor currently circulating on social media that ICE is conducting a 90-day campaign in the region. Van Beek said the same thing — he is unaware of any specific operational timeline or operations in neighboring mountain counties, but he has seen the social media chatter. 

ICE agents apprehended an individual with an outstanding warrant in Carbondale on Wednesday, according to the Carbondale Police Department.

“They were looking for a specific individual. They found that specific individual,” Carbondale Police Chief Kirk Wilson told the Glenwood Springs Post Independent on Thursday. “Nothing took place in Carbondale proper, but it was in the area.”

“We believe that it’s not useful to put any sort of arbitrary timeline, especially if it’s not true or there’s no evidence to suggest it,” Sánchez said. “We shouldn’t worry too much about the 90 days. … We, as an organization, have confirmed time and time again since January 2025 that ICE has been in our community, and many detentions have already occurred.”

Community resources

Voces Unidas publishes resources on its website, including “Know Your Rights” information to educate people on their constitutional rights. 

“What’s more important is that we know our constitutional rights, even if the federal government chooses not to honor them at the time when they approach us,” Sánchez said. “It’s important to know that regardless of where we’re from, regardless of our immigration status, we all have constitutional rights and constitutional protections and due process in this country.”

Voces Unidas also publishes information on how to access legal support, find loved ones who were detained, communicate with schools, and more.

The federal agents conducting operations do not always drive labeled vehicles or wear vests labeled “ICE,” according to Voces Unidas reports. It has documented two other federal agencies that also operate under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security participating in the detentions, Sánchez said. 

ICE agents have visited homes and places of work, conducted traffic stops, and approached individuals in public, he said. 

“We have not been able to confirm any sort of roadblocks or where it has escalated into a large-scale raid. But the reports we’re getting is that in cases of traffic stops, that it’s multiple cars that they’re stopping. They’re not just stopping one car,” he said.

He added that Voces Unidas has confirmed that individuals have been surveilled and detained by federal agents driving unmarked vehicles, sometimes without license plates. Van Beek said he hasn’t heard of any of his deputies encountering unmarked vehicles in the field. 

“It’s a black SUV,” he said. “I mean, how many of those are around here, you know? So they may have, but nothing’s been reported to me of, ‘Oh, I ran into some of the feds.’ Nothing like that.”

While social media rumors have suggested only people with criminal records are being detained by ICE, Sánchez said that has not been the case.

“That’s not what our evidence suggests. That’s not what the trends suggest, and that’s not what the witness stories and witness interviews we have conducted or the interviews we have done with family members,” he said.

Once individuals have been detained by ICE, there are multiple locations where they may be taken. Van Beek confirmed that detainees are not being held in the Eagle County jail. 

The main Colorado ICE detention center is in Aurora, and there are additional temporary holding facilities throughout the state. ICE keeps a database of detainees that can be searched by individuals’ name and/or A-number and place of birth.

Sánchez recommends that those concerned about ICE’s presence educate themselves on their rights and only post information on social media that has been confirmed by credible sources.

“It is important that we are vigilant. We have been here before as a community. We are resilient. We have to use all the tools in our toolbox to make sure that we keep ourselves and our family members and our communities safe,” he said.

Van Beek said “nothing has changed for us” regarding how his office operates in the community, adding, “I don’t enforce the federal law. I enforce state law.”

“If somebody’s a victim, it doesn’t matter where they’re from, what their nationality is, anything like that,” van Beek said. “If somebody’s a victim, they need to call 911 because we enforce Colorado laws. And if they’re a victim, we’re going to treat them as a victim, and we’re going to go after as aggressively as we can anyone that’s victimizing them. So to us, it’s irrelevant what their immigration status is … we want people to not be afraid to reach out to us because you know if there’s a problem, that’s what we’re here for.”

Members of the public can find information and resources on immigration, immigrants’ rights, guides for families to plan for immigration-related emergencies, a link to the ICE database of detainees, and information on legal groups that provide immigration assistance on the Voces Unidas website, VocesUnidas.org.

Voces Unidas can be contacted with reports of ICE activity via its hotline at 970-340-8586.