Aurora rebukes ICE claim that local police neglected call for help after inmates escape

AURORA | Aurora’s police chief pushed back on an ICE narrative that prison officials notified local police “immediately” after two inmates escaped Tuesday night but wouldn’t help look for the missing immigrants

“This is not anything like what has been portrayed,” Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said at a press conference Thursday afternoon.

Police dispatch and other records reveal that it was hours after a power outage allowed two detainees to escape the north-Aurora immigration prison that ICE officials notified dispatchers of the escape.

“The Aurora Police Department is ready and willing to help our federal partners, including those working at the ICE GEO facility,” Aurora police Chief Todd Chamberlain said in a statement Thursday. “In order for us to effectively respond to and assist our federal partners with calls for service, we need to receive timely and accurate information. That, unfortunately, did not happen, as demonstrated by the facts of this incident.”

Aurora dispatch and police reports show that the power went out at the GEO ICE facility at 3130 Oakland St., at about 9:30 p.m. “causing the doors of at least one exit to become unlocked,” police said in a statement. 

Aurora officer Ryan McCallian said in a report that he contacted GEO prison Assistant Facility Administrator Mohamed Bennani at about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday to get details on the escape of Joel Jose Gonzalez-Gonzalez, 32, and Jose Geilan Vido-Romero, 24.

Both men were being held on immigration retainers, but neither Aurora police nor federal ICE officials released any details of crimes the two men were accused of, aside from lacking valid immigration documents.

Bennani told police that the facility staff started an emergency count when the power went out and discovered at 12:35 a.m. Wednesday that both inmates were missing. But ICE officials did not make their first call to Aurora police until 2:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Since the escape happened approximately four hours before ICE called for police, Aurora’s watch commander determined the timeline of events did not meet the definition of a “hot” escape response, in accordance with a Memorandum of Understanding between ICE and APD, according to police spokesperson Joe Moylan. 

By the time ICE contacted ADP, the escape was considered “cold,” which means the event happened more than 15 minutes prior, and police were not immediately contacted. The call was then queued for follow-up.

Homeland Security officials have characterized the incident as a case of a local “sanctuary city” law enforcement working against efforts to detain and deport immigrants. Homeland Security Border Czar Tom Homan has accused local media, activists and Denver police of undermining ICE efforts to round-up immigrants during raids. Homan has blamed those entities for raids that net few arrests.

Chamberlain said Aurora police want to cooperated with ICE when it comes to securing community public safety, but he blamed the escapes on mistakes made by GEO jail officials, who waited hours to notify Aurora dispatchers.

“On an incident like this, had we been provided urgent and timely information, as opposed to four and a half to five hours old, the circumstances and the outcome might have been very very different,” Chamberlain said.

McCallian responded to the GEO Corrections Detention Center at 5:13 a.m. Wednesday to take a report.

“The city of Aurora did not create this situation, but I want to assure our residents that an active investigation is underway to determine if these individuals have any connection with Aurora,” Chamberlain said in the statement. “If these two men are hiding out in our city, we will find them and return them to custody.”

Chamberlain noted, however, that as of about 5 p.m. Thursday, federal warrants for the arrest of the two escapees were still incomplete, nearly 17 hours after their escape.

The state, meanwhile, issued a notice to law enforcement agencies to “be on the lookout” for the men but ICE did not ask for any other help, a spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, Ally Sullivan, said in a statement.

“We continue to urge ICE to be transparent with the state and the public about this incident as it develops, including whether any escapees are a danger to the public,” Sullivan said.

A spokesperson for ICE did not immediately respond to a request for details about the search or to comment on the police account of what happened.

The Florida-based GEO Group said the power outage may have damaged portions of the facility’s security system, allowing the detainees to bypass security and scale a perimeter fence.

“We are working urgently to ensure that all necessary corrective actions are implemented to prevent such instances from reoccurring,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.