Facebook Post: 09/11/2025 17:30
“Enough dust has settled for me to address some of the concerns a group of our community has brought up about our handling of an unfortunate situation in the Chaffee County probation department a few weeks back that involved ICE Agents. We all know that “ICE” in general is a very hot topic right now, especially politically. I want to strive to always be transparent with the community we serve. We have already fulfilled multiple requests for body camera footage of the incident. We welcome, and quite frankly want, an independent investigation of the incident concerning our response as I am confident it will just highlight the truth I will speak about herein. We did not violate state law. Hopefully it will restore faith in your local law enforcement, and you will understand we did everything we could legally do after being placed in a terrible situation.
On August 19th at about 11:10AM our dispatch center received a call from the local probation department that two parties who were “running from ICE” “barricaded” in an office in the secure section of the probation department with a probation officer inside. Of course, when I heard “ICE” I said some expletives to myself as I knew it would be difficult because of the hot topic. But our largest concern was for the probation officer and her safety as this was not their Probation Officer.
As you know, the two parties running from ICE were Darwin and his partner Carolina (purposely providing limited information). When we arrived, we learned that Darwin was attending county court for an earlier DUI he had. Carolina had driven him to court. After court, Darwin and Carolina reported to the probation department below courts and then left after completing their business. They both then got in their car, Carolina driving, and drove away.
A short distance down the road, ICE attempted to pull them over on a traffic stop. According to ICE, Carolina and Darwin definitely knew who they were (supported by the report from probation that they immediately said they were running from “ICE”) but they chose to run. ICE explained that Carolina then sped away, failed to stop at several stop signs and went back to the parking lot of probation. Both then ran inside. This is something we would have arrested them for had we seen it happen.
The probation staff member at the front let Darwin and Carolina into the secure area of probation and the two then ran into a probation officer’s office (not their probation officer) and locked themselves in the office with the probation officer. When confronted by the ICE agents, the staff member let them into the secure area as well but then the ICE agents were instructed to leave the secure area to go back to the lobby and they complied. ICE did not have to comply with this by law.
A few things to point out at this time are that Carolina and Darwin had now allegedly committed a slew of crimes on the street that could amount to charges such as obstructing a federal officer, vehicular eluding, traffic violations and resisting arrest. We do not have the authority to question ICE’s probable cause. By barricading in the probation office and refusing to leave they could have been charged with obstructing government operations and more. Also, per the laws concerning “fresh pursuit” the federal officers did not need a search warrant to enter the secure part of the building. They could have legally kicked in the doors to gain access to Carolina and Darwin where they were hiding. ICE was not wearing masks when we dealt with them.
Colorado law prohibits law enforcement from a slew of things when related to ICE, but it is mostly all surrounding the immigration status of being in the United States and cooperating with civil detainers. The law does not prohibit us from cooperating with them concerning other violations of law. We never comply with civil detainers from ICE when we have undocumented immigrants in our jail facility because it is illegal.
We were told that a probation officer in the building was having “texting” conversations with the probation officer barricaded in the room with Carolina and Darwin, so we asked her to text her to come out if she was able. Understand that we have no idea who Carolina and Darwin are at this point, and we must treat them as if they are armed and would be hostile until we proved otherwise. The probation officer with Carolina and Darwin was then able to walk out of the office without any resistance from Darwin and Carolina which was a great sign for us that they did not mean any harm to her. However, when the probation officer exited the office Darwin closed the door behind her and again locked the door, so we still had to deal with them obstructing government operations, now trespassing and refusing to leave the structure when ordered by law enforcement.
ICE was in the lobby (waiting room) with two deputies, and they were not happy. They made it very clear that this was no longer just about immigration, they wanted them both on criminal charges and we were bordering on obstruction. One ICE agent brought up calling the FBI to another which we clearly took as a direction of charging our officers. I was now juggling trying to keep the probation officers and my staff from being arrested. Just like most of you, I know they have arrested Judges for this, so I knew it was a strong possibility. Letting Carolina and Darwin into the secure area when they were running from ICE could have been considered harboring fugitives and not allowing ICE access to them could be considered obstruction. Remembering that Carolina and Darwin are now wanted for criminal charges.
I knew we were in a pickle and went to speak to the ICE agents through the glass partition. I tried to start a dialect with ICE that the laws governing our cooperation with them were “stupid” in hopes of gaining sympathy, but they went directly into the obstruction dialogue. I told ICE that we were trying to talk them out of the office they were locked in. I did not speak Spanish, but I knew one of my Spanish speaking deputies was trying to negotiate with them, but I did not think they would come out and leave the secure area if they could see ICE. I asked ICE if they would be willing to go outside and when Darwin and Carolina agreed to come out, they could take them into custody outside. Again, this is perfectly legal because it was crimes they were wanted for. ICE agreed and walked outside. The ICE Agents stopped close to the front door where the windows are and one of my deputies told them to move farther away from the building so they wouldn’t be seen by Darwin and Carolina and again, they complied.
My Undersheriff and I spoke in detail about what we could do. We knew that if Darwin and Carolina exited the secure area that would most likely result in their apprehension by ICE. We were not going to let them go out through a different door (that is why the judge was arrested) and it would be unethical of us as officers not to comply with ICE now being in this situation (criminal charges). The ICE agents made it clear “we aren’t going anywhere” meaning they were not leaving. They were also clearly frustrated with our level of cooperation because of our fear of violating state law. The ICE agents made statements that they have never seen something like this in all their years of doing this and “this would never happen in Texas”.
Eventually Carolina and Darwin agreed to open the door, and they exited to the lobby. Our staff left probation and our call for service that we were called there for was now completed and handled. I let ICE know that we got them out of the secure area. A while later ICE re-entered the lobby where Carolina and Darwin waited and they were taken into custody by ICE. ICE was very much aware that the couple had a child in Buena Vista and Carolina was allowed ample time to decide over the phone to make arrangements for the child.
I have never worked with a more compassionate agency than the one I oversee. On the recordings my staff could be heard multiple times stressing their own concerns for the child just like everyone else. We, and all of Colorado law enforcement, are in very difficult positions with regards to dealing with ICE based on the governing laws Colorado has placed on us. It is situations like this that make it extremely awkward and causes law enforcement to “second guess” that can get in the way of safety. We are thankful that Carolina and Darwin did not mean any harm to the probation officer.
We are not void of making mistakes, like anyone, and we welcome “constructive” criticism because it could make us all better. We will cooperate, as always, and work with other branches of the government to find better solutions, if they exist in the future. I too watched all the recordings, and I was proud of how my staff handled this situation. We are as upset as anyone that a child was caught up in the middle of this. It is unfortunate to say the least.
Just to be very clear and to hopefully regain the trust of those that were misled to believe we violated the law. We will never knowingly violate the law. We DID NOT do so in this case. We navigated the situation the best we could with the tools we had at our grasp. It is infuriating to me that “politically” we can never do this the right way. The right will be mad that we did not aid ICE, and the left will be mad when assumed that we did. And others that fall in the middle may also choose to decide one way or another. If you are upset with how ICE is handled, either way, in Colorado by law enforcement let your legislators know. We are governed by rules that we must comply with. We do not enforce federal laws. We enforce state and local. Federal laws are enforced by federal authorities. Please don’t blame my staff. They will always be here for you. We did what we could, which we will always do. Trust in us that we will always follow the law regardless of how it may have a politically affiliated party feel. This is an example of that. My employees can have their own political beliefs, and you know most of them would like to be able to comply with ICE because they are just another law enforcement agency to us. Love them or hate them (ICE) they too are just doing the job at the direction of their leadership and the laws (federal) that govern them. My staff will never allow their personal political beliefs to sway them from abiding by the law.
I will not respond to any hate and unconstructive discussions. If you truly do have questions, please ask. Email me if you would like at arrohrich@chaffeesheriff.org. My door is always open, and I urge you to come see me with any concerns that you may have. Several already have and they can attest I do not shy away from difficult questions, conversations and am always open to seeing them. My staff and I strive to be transparent with you all. This is your Sheriff’s Office. Be proud of them. They did what they could. Thank you for having our back the way we have yours. We love this community that we too raise our children in. We will be it’s protector.” -Sheriff Andy Rohrich
FB Convo with CCSO - More to come:
CITIZEN K : You tossed them to the wolves. And ruined a child's life. Bravo for allowing the mother of a child to make arrangements? because she'll probably never see her child again. 
Also stop lying to your community: 
While ICE agents command their own federal authority, their ability to direct local law enforcement is limited to the specific immigration duties delegated to local officers through voluntary partnerships like the 287(g) program. Outside of these specific agreements, local law enforcement agencies maintain their independent authority and are not subordinate to ICE.

Chaffee County Sheriff's Office:
CITIZEN K try looking up the real law instead of asking Siri. You are incorrect
CITIZEN K:
Chaffee County Sheriff's Office Siri? the 'real' law?
Why don't you state the 'real' law right here for me, if I'm incorrect, please correct me.
NO RESPONSE FROM Chaffee County Sheriff's Office
Source - Email from Local Indivisible Leader
All: I was just on the phone with Sheriff Rohrich for about an hour to discuss the article. He felt that the article left out some information, didn't include an accurate timeline of events and gave the impression that his office assisted ICE. The following is a recap of our conversation. He is willing to speak to anyone who wants to talk to him and said I could give out his contact information (provided after the notes):
Both Carolina and her partner, Darwin, knew the entire time that ICE was chasing them and said that as they ran into the probation building.
A probation staff member let them into a secure area and they then went into an office where a probation officer was (not their PO – just an officer who happened to be in the room) and locked the door.
The probation office contacted the sheriff’s office because they had locked themselves in the room fleeing from ICE and requested the sheriff’s office to remove them from the office.
Sheriff’s office responded to the request from the probation office to get them out of the probation office.
ICE informed sheriff’s staff that they needed Darwin for immigration reasons and Carolina for interfering with his arrest and obstruction
Sheriff said county could have arrested her for obstructing the ICE agents and for locking themselves in the office but chose to let ICE deal with their own operations.
“We’re not going to let him walk out the back door.” Sheriff made this comment because he said we cannot obstruct ICE. (We cannot help, but we cannot obstruct). “We see judges being arrested for this. Whether I like it or not, I could not let him go out the back door.”
He also had concerns for the probation office staff who allowed them in and whether they could face charges for obstructing ICE. The sheriff said “we were trying to make it as peaceful as possible and have ICE go on their way.”
He wants to stress: “We will not break state law. We are not going to find some gray area of the law just to help ICE.”
Sheriff said that “on an almost daily basis, we get served with civil detainers in our jail from ICE. “ (ICE finds out someone is in our jail on a criminal charge. ICE sends a detainer to the jail (overseen by sheriff) and asks the Sheriff to inform ICE when person is going to be released so ICE can pick them up.) The Sheriff said: “In those situations, we never comply. “
In conclusion, the sheriff said:
"We were there to help the probation office, not ICE, get the two people out of the building after they fled from ICE and locked themselves in an office with a probation staff member. It is unfortunate that ICE was a part of this. We are put in unfortunate situations where we have to put our emotions aside and enforce the law. I felt sorry for both of them, but we cannot obstruct ICE. We could have on our own charged them, given them over to ICE because they committed criminal acts when they locked themselves in the room and refused to leave. But that is not what we wanted to do. We wanted a more peaceful solution. We also didn’t want to put ourselves in a situation where county staff could have been charged with obstruction.”
“If anyone wants to speak to me, I am an open book.
They can contact me my personal cell: