One of two men who escaped from an immigration detention center in Colorado was apprehended on Friday after being discovered by a sheriff’s deputy approximately 12 miles away. Joel Gonzalez-Gonzalez, 32, was approached by a deputy from the Adam’s County Sheriff’s Office around 4:30 a.m. due to appearing suspicious, according to Sgt. Adam Sherman, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office. Upon confirming that he was one of the escapees from the detention center in Aurora, Colorado, on Tuesday night, Gonzalez-Gonzalez was temporarily detained until U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials arrived.
The second individual who escaped on the same night was still at large. It was reported that both men had managed to leave through doors that opened during a power outage at the GEO Group-operated detention center in a Denver suburb under contract with ICE. Although ICE promptly sought assistance from local authorities to locate the escapees, Aurora police chief Todd Chamberlain mentioned that they were not informed until more than four hours after the men had absconded, making it challenging for the police to intervene.
Gonzalez-Gonzalez, a Mexican national, had been incarcerated in Adams County jail between February 9 to February 12 for local criminal offenses, including second-degree motor vehicle theft, as stated by Sherman. Details from the court documents related to the criminal charges were not readily accessible. He was assigned a public defender in that case, who declined to provide comments to the media.
ICE confirmed that Gonzalez-Gonzalez was arrested on February 12 and was subsequently held in their detention facility pending immigration proceedings. He has been residing in the U.S. since 2013 but violated the terms of his admission. The presence of legal representation for Gonzalez-Gonzalez in his immigration case remains uncertain.
