Background: Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Denver, Colorado (KDVR/YouTube). Inset: President Donald Trump gives remarks during an event celebrating the 2024 Stanley Cup Champion the Florida Panthers in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on Monday, February 3, 2025 (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images).
A Colorado sheriff”s deputy has been allegedly cooperating with the Trump administration on immigration civil enforcement actions, including the detainment of a 19-year-old nursing student who was taken into custody by ICE after a “routine traffic stop,” according to a new lawsuit filed by the state’s attorney general.
“We better get some b—in Christmas baskets from you guys,” Mesa County Sheriff’s Deputy Alexander Zwinck wrote in a Signal Chat message to immigration officers on June 10 before one of the assisted busts, according to Attorney General Phil Weiser and his criminal complaint, which was filed Tuesday in Mesa County District Court.
“Not seeing crim history, but I believe she has immigration issues,” Zwinck allegedly wrote in another message, while flagging his traffic stop with nursing student Caroline Goncalves to ICE agents on June 5.
Zwinck was patrolling eastbound along Interstate 70 when he stopped Goncalves because he believed she was following too closely behind a semi-truck, Weiser’s complaint says. Zwinck allegedly questioned the young woman and asked if the vehicle was hers, “if she had the paperwork for it,” and where she was traveling to. Zwinck ran her information, which showed no prior criminal charges.
“Another federal immigration officer on the Signal Chat asked Deputy Zwinck to tell him the mile marker where he was located,” the complaint alleges. “One minute later another federal immigration officer on the Signal Chat sent Deputy Zwinck a message stating: ‘Brazilian National, visa overstay. No crim, no financials or HSI cases.'”
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After receiving the information that Goncalves had no criminal history and only a possible immigration issue, Zwinck allegedly exited his vehicle to speak with her again. When he approached the car, he told Goncalves, “Do me a favor, come back to my car with me, we are going to go over some paperwork, and then I will get you going.”
At the “same time” this was happening, Zwinck allegedly messaged the word “Port,” in reference to the mile-marker location, in the Signal chat. “Less than two minutes later, federal immigration officers wrote back on the Signal Chat, ‘We are en route to the port.'”
According to Weiser’s complaint, Zwinck never told Goncalves that he was “working with or communicating” with federal immigration officers, nor did Zwinck disclose that he handed ICE her personal identifying information. “Instead, Deputy Zwinck told the driver he was just going to issue her a traffic warning,” the complaint charges.
Goncalves, who was born in Brazil and lives in Utah, was later detained for a visa overstay violation after Zwinck informed them in which direction her car was heading after releasing her, the complaint says.
“Having provided the driver’s personal identifying information to effectuate a civil immigration enforcement action and her detention, Deputy Zwinck ended this conversation by congratulating the federal immigration officers by stating ‘rgr, nice work,'” the complaint alleges.
Other messages on the Signal Chat that were sent between May 23 and June 16 allegedly “demonstrate” that Zwinck provided “assistance” to support federal civil immigration enforcement efforts on multiple occasions.
“Zwinck is gonna get ERO [Enforcement and Removal Operations, a section of ICE] interdictor of the year,” an ICE officer allegedly declared in a Signal Chat message.
According to the AG’s office, Colorado law “expressly prohibits” state agency and political subdivision employees — including counties, municipalities, and government agencies such as city police departments and sheriff offices — from disclosing personal identifying information for the purpose of “investigating for, participating in, cooperating with, or assisting federal immigration enforcement.” The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office has launched an investigation into the incident and placed Zwinck on administrative leave as it unfolds. The sheriff’s office did not respond to Law&Crime’s requests for comment on Wednesday.
