Immigration office opens in Colorado Springs
Posted : Nov 30, 2009 8:06 AM
Updated: Nov 30, 2009 7:48 PM
The long awaited Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office opened in Colorado Springs Monday.
At a news conference Monday morning, El Paso County Commissioner Jim Bensberg couldn't hide his excitement following the nearly 4 years of lobbying by state and local elected leaders.
"If I had a tail right now, it'd be waggin," Bensberg joked with the audience.
The office takes up the entire second floor of the Pueblo Bank and Trust building on E. Pikes Peak Avenue in downtown. The 10 agents and other federal employees who work here will focus primarily on investigations into multi-national crimes.
"Any merchandise that illicitly crosses our borders or any immigration violation we will investigate," explained Kumar Kibble, ICE Special Agent in Charge of Colorado.
Congressman Doug Lamborn said the main reason for establishing an ICE office in the Springs is to fight the growing amount drug trafficking and other crimes taking tied to the Mexican cartels that place along the I-25 corridor.
"The creation of this office will alleviate some of the burden and help El Paso County and Colorado Springs officials in addressing the numerous problems associated with illegal immigration," Lamborn said.
The office adds to a growing list of federal law enforcement agencies with operations in El Paso County, including the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Fire Arms and Drug Enforcement Agency.
Bensberg hopes that such a large federal law enforcement presence will persuade the government to bring a federal magistrate and US District Court to El Paso County as well.
"Since were the most populace county in the state, we think that we'll be able to bring a federal magistrate here and a federal campus surrounding the courthouse and all these agencies."
Bensberg says State Attorney General John Suthers has joined the county commissioners in lobbying for a magistrate and courthouse here.
Currently, all federal cases in Colorado are tried at the US District Court in Denver.
The effort to establish an ICE office in Colorado Springs began in 2005 with former Senators Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar, but Bensberg says the man who is largely responsible for seeing their effort through was Lamborn.
"He really took the ball and pulled it over the goal line," Bensberg said. "Until Congressman Lamborn introduced a bill to Congress and really forced the issue, we finally got this off the ground."
