Another person arrested by ICE while trying to board a flight at DIA

Department of Homeland Security agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested a Mexican man at Denver International Airport on Aug. 13 as he attempted to board a Southwest Airlines flight to Sacramento around 6 a.m.

The incident was first reported by the Colorado Rapid Response Network, a watchdog group for ICE activity in the state. The arrest was later confirmed by ICE’s Denver Field Office. The office claimed that the man, identified as Isreal Cruz Gonzales, entered the country legally on Feb. 16, 2020, but was supposed to leave by March 16, 2020.

“In violation of our nation’s law, he overstayed his welcome,” a spokesperson with the field office tells Westword, adding that he will be in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

ICE caught flak for similar activity back in July, when agents arrested 27-year-old Chantal Morales Rojas, an Ecuadorian woman, as she was boarding a different Southwest flight going from Denver to California. The arrest was caught on video, with ICE claiming that her visa had expired in 2025. Rojas’ lawyer has since argued that the arrest and information released by ICE were incorrect, and that Rojas ”came to the United States lawfully in early 2023 on a J-1 exchange visitor visa as an au pair” and “filed an application with U.S. immigration authorities that allowed her to remain in the country while her case has been pending.”

Federal Immigration Judge Bobbie Masters eventually released Rojas on a $3,000 bond, allowing her to leave the ICE processing center in Aurora (which may or may not have an outbreak of tuberculosis). The New York Times reported in December that ICE officers were arresting people at airports with the help of information provided by airlines to the T.S.A. In Rojas’ case, she had gotten through the TSA security checkpoint just fine, later being approached by ICE agents at her gate.

Regarding the Aug. 13 arrest, ICE tells Westword that “being in detention is a choice” before plugging the CBP Home app that lets immigrants report self-deportation to ICE, adding that the “United States is offering illegal aliens $2,600 and a free flight to self-deport now.”