As President Trump pushes forward on his pledge to carry out mass deportations, U.S. immigration agents are detaining and deporting criminal defendants before their cases can move through the courts, frustrating local law enforcement officials and stirring fear among some crime victims.
Snatching up defendants in the middle of their cases denies justice to communities and especially the victims, prosecutors say. They worry that defendants who are deported before their criminal cases are resolved could return to the United States and commit more crimes.
“There is no level of accountability when someone is deported,” said Ryan Brackley, the assistant district attorney in Arapahoe County, Colo., which includes the city of Aurora. “We want our victims to get the justice they deserve. When we have crimes of violence and there are victims of record we want to be able to hold their offenders accountable.”
Mr. Brackley pointed to a recent case that his office had sought to prosecute.
An anonymous tip and a short video clip sent to the police in Aurora showed a man on his knees, with blood on his hands and one of his ears — the result, investigators later concluded, of being pistol-whipped.
After several weeks, the police arrested a suspect in the beating: Yerbis Manuel Garcia-Quintero, a man from Venezuela who they say sold gold and lent money to other immigrants, and used violence to collect debts. He was charged with several felonies, including extortion and assault, that could have sent him to prison for years if convicted.
Mr. Garcia-Quintero posted bail and was released while his case moved toward a trial. But then he failed to show up in court for his preliminary hearing in early April. Prosecutors presumed that he had fled and was now a fugitive.