Sweeping God's People to Jail

A couple of years ago now, I predicted how the state would look to round up "undocumented immigrants" on our highways. Now the Colorado State Patrol in fact conducted "their first sweep of I-70" to find "undocumented immigrants."

The criteria the Patrol uses is a traffic violation has to occur before they can pull a car over. Once that is done, they can arrest all the people in the car if they are undocumented immigrants.

In one case mentioned in the following news story, the car was broken down along the highway when the State Patrol drove up to "provide assistance." All the passengers in that car were detained and shipped to the Aurora detention center.

I still predict the times will become more difficult for many of the people who attend our churches, God fearing and faithful people. I feel more strongly than ever, that the church is still not equipped on how to respond or handle these situations.

With that thought in mind, some churches on the western slope could be forced to close or operate in less than open locations for fear of the State Patrol waiting to check the status of "large groups of Hispanic people gathering" for church services, or again, as I have mentioned before, those van loads of people going to "retreat" are open game for the new Colorado State Patrol.

I can assure you that just because "comprehensive immigration reform" did not pass, the problem did not go away, it only got bigger.

In all sincerity, it now that we should be making calls to the Governor's Office and State Legislators deploring the open "game status" by the Colorado State Patrol on people on their way to church. Remember this was "their first sweep" and they arrested 48, more to come I am sure.

Here is the story that appeared in The Denver Post regarding the "sweep."

Denver & the West
48 arrested in I-70 patrol sweep
ICE-deputized troopers round up suspected illegal immigrants
By Kirk Mitchell Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 08/01/2007 01:11:49 AM MDT

Recently trained Colorado troopers arrested 48 suspected illegal immigrants in a sweep along Interstate 70 on Tuesday near the Eisenhower Tunnel, officials said.
"That's a good big number for us," said Jeff Copp, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement district chief based in Denver.
It was the first roundup by Colorado State Patrol officers deputized by ICE to process suspected illegal immigrants.
In the joint operation between ICE and the State Patrol, three cars were stopped for traffic violations and a fourth was stranded beside the road, said state Master Trooper Ron Watkins.
All of the immigrants who were detained were from Mexico, ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok said. An infant who is a U.S. citizen was with one family of illegal immigrants, Rusnok said. The baby was to return to Mexico on Tuesday, he said.
The cars had as many as 15 people inside, Rusnok said.
State troopers began at 9 a.m. to look for possible illegal immigrants on I-70 between the Eisenhower Tunnel and Vail Pass.
Troopers could stop cars only for traffic violations, Watkins said. When they suspected that occupants of the cars might be illegal immigrants, they investigated further.
The suspected illegal immigrants will be taken to an Aurora detention center before they are deported to their home countries, Copp said.
The Colorado State Patrol unit of about 25 troopers completed training at the beginning of July, Watkins said.
They were trained by federal agents to operate under the authority of ICE, Copp said. The training is part of a national program to fight illegal immigration.

Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.