A municipal judge in Lone Tree this summer wrongly warned a defendant that the court would report him to federal immigration authorities — an unusual act that has drawn condemnation from immigrant rights groups and advocates.
On July 18, Judge Lou Gresh advised a person accused of shoplifting when he said “we report all illegal immigrants to ICE for deportation as shoplifting is a deportable offense under federal law,” according to court documents reviewed by The Denver Post.
Michelle Ahronovitz, an attorney in the courtroom that day, said she looked around and wasn’t sure if she heard the judge correctly. Never in her career had she heard a judge say those words from the bench, she said.
“There was definitely implicit bias and implicit racism,” she said in an interview. “It was definitely one of the most horrific municipal court experiences I’ve had as a lawyer.”
Gresh, through a city spokesperson, declined an interview for this story.
In a statement, city officials said Lone Tree does not contact immigration authorities about municipal court suspects. The judge that day must have made an error when he referred to the city’s guidance to ensure that all defendants understand that convictions or guilty pleas could affect their immigration status, said Melissa Gallegos, the city’s spokesperson.
Nicole Cervera Loy, policy and campaign manager at the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalitioncalled the judge’s language a “gross abuse of judicial power” and said the city must immediately investigate his conduct.
“The actions taken were grossly inappropriate and undermine the justice system,” Loy said. “The courtroom should be a place where justice is served, not a place where people feel intimidated or afraid.”
Multiple judges and attorneys told The Post they had never heard of judges saying they would report defendants in their courtrooms to immigration authorities.
Colorado law protects individuals from arrest while present at a courthouse or while going to or from a court proceeding. But there are no statutes that expressly prohibit judges from calling immigration authorities.
Still, three Colorado Municipal Court judges told The Post that warning that they will contact immigration should not be part of entering a plea or imposing a sentence.
“If you say things like, ‘I’m threatening to call the authorities,’ you’re probably crossing the line,” one judge told The Post, speaking on condition of anonymity to speak candidly about another sitting judge. ‘That is no longer advice; that sounds like a threat. There is a difference between advising a consequence and threatening a consequence.”
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Originally published: October 26, 2024 at 6:00 AM