Two detainees are at large after they escaped a detention facility in Colorado during a power outage at earlier this week.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Geilond Vido-Romero, 24, and Joel Jose Gonzalez-Gonzalez, 32, escaped ICE’s Denver Contract Detention Facility in Aurora on Tuesday night. Police believe they fled through one of the back doors of the facility while the power was out.
A report from the Aurora Police Department (APD) said the power went out around 9:30 p.m. on March 18 and the back doors of the detention centre opened up to a soccer field, giving the men a chance to flee.
An hour later, during an “emergency count,” both men were discovered missing.
“Local authorities were notified immediately and declined to assist with the search,” ICE said in a statement to 9 News. The ICE spokesperson said they alerted “additional state and federal law enforcement partners.”
A call for service report from APD said they were not notified about the escape until 2:32 a.m. — hours after the staff members were notified the men were missing, giving the escapees as much as a five-hour head start after the power first went out.
“We received late notification about the incident and upon response learned the event occurred several hours prior,” APD said in a statement provided to news outlets.
“The Aurora Police Department is available to assist our federal partners with active public safety emergencies. As a municipal law enforcement agency, we do not enforce federal immigration law and cannot participate in large-scale searches or follow-ups.”
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Both men were last seen wearing “an orange long sleeve top, beige coloured pants and black coloured Crocs,” police added.
According to ICE, both men were in the country as illegal immigrants.
The agency said Vido-Romero entered the U.S. through Texas in December 2023. U.S. Border Patrol officers released him on his own recognizance at the time, but last month an immigration judge ordered Vido “in absentia removed from the U.S. to Venezuela Feb. 18,” according to ICE.
ICE encountered him on Feb. 26 at the Douglas County Jail in Castle Rock, Colo., after he was arrested on local charges. Vido-Romero was issued an immigration detainer the same day. He was arrested by ICE on Feb. 27 and held at their detention facility pending his removal, according to the spokesperson.
Gonzalez-Gonzalez entered the U.S. in February 2013, also through Texas. He subsequently violated the conditions of his admission.
ICE encountered him on Jan. 8 at the Adams County Jail in Brighton, Colo., where he was being held on local charges and issued an immigration detainer the same day, the spokesperson told 9 News. He was arrested by ICE on Feb. 12 and was issued a notice to appear in front of an immigration judge. He was being held at the ICE facility pending immigration proceedings.
Aurora Police Public Information Officer Joe Moylan told Fox News that police will “assist with the apprehension” if they are given confirmation the men are in their city.
“This was a cold event from the time we were notified about it,” he told the outlet. “We are working with our federal partners to determine if the escapees have any connection to the city of Aurora. When the time comes that warrants are active and information is confirmed that these men are in Aurora, we will assist with the apprehension.”
Other local sheriff’s offices, as well as the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, told Fox News they were also not informed by ICE of the escaped detainees.
The Aurora Detention Facility, which is a contract facility for ICE run by the Geo Group, has been the site of protests since news broke that a well-known immigration activist, Jeanette Vizguerra, was taken into custody by ICE on Monday, reports Fox 5 San Diego.
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