Police & Law Enforcement

Boulder District Attorneys Office fights with ICE over “dramatic” homicide post

"Despite ICE’s dramatic claim, no one was actually shot."
an ICE agent in a bullet-proof vest walks away
The Boulder DA's Office has spoken out against ICE enforcement before.

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A social media scuffle between the Boulder District Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Denver Field Office broke out on July 1 after ICE posted incorrect information regarding road rage arrests by the Boulder Sheriff’s Office.

In the original post, ICE blasted the Boulder DA’s Office for releasing “criminal aliens from Honduras,” Fabio Escobar-Munguia and Yerlin Menguia-Hernandez, on bond. According to ICE, the men were released after being arrested for “felony homicide.”

“After they were arrested, Boulder Co. released them on bond,” ICE exclaimed. “ICE had to pick them up in YOUR community as immigration detainers were not honored!”

The only problem: the two suspects were not arrested on charges of felony homicide. They were arrested on charges of attempt to commit murder, menacing and illegal discharge of a firearm after they allegedly shot at another vehicle on U.S. Highway 36 — charges the DA’s Office called “serious” in a press release on July 1, but pinpointed the danger of the misinformation in the original post.

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“Despite ICE’s dramatic claim, no one was actually shot,” the DA’s Office said in a release that included significantly fewer exclamation marks. “As the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office noted at the time of the arrest, ‘No injuries were reported as a result of the incident.’ The charges filed by our office are publicly available and reflect that it was an attempted shooting.”

According to the Boulder DA’s Office, prosecutors argued for high-security bonds for the defendants, and originally asked their bonds be set at $200,000 with no cash option. The judge eventually set bond for both suspects at $100,000, along with a $10,000 cash option. Both defendants posted their bonds in the last week of June.

In a follow-up post on July 2, ICE admitted the mistake, but still pointed the finger at Boulder prosecutors.

“The fact remains that these violent egregious offenders were released into YOUR community rather than transferred into ICE custody via jail setting,” ICE said.

The DAs Office had countered that point in the press release the day prior, however.

“If a defendant is deported while a case is pending, the case cannot move forward. When that happens, the victims and the community will have neither justice nor closure, and the defendants will not have any consequences whatsoever for their criminal conduct,” the DA’s retort said, noting that both suspects now have arrest warrants out after not appearing for preliminary hearings after the initial bond was paid.

“The case is serious enough without ICE falsely claiming that people were killed,” DA Michael Dougherty said in the release. “If ICE wants to criticize the judge for the release, ICE should also include accurate information about the charges and accurate information about the bond was set. The American people deserve accurate information and the victims should not be led to believe that they are, in fact, dead. Our office is committed to fighting for public safety and justice — and doing it with integrity.”

The Boulder DA’s Office has spoken out against ICE enforcement before. According to a recent analysis of ICE enforcement from 2015 to 2025 by economists at the University of Colorado Boulder, ICE arrests increased by 211% in the Denver area during President Donald Trump’s first 10 months back in White House last year, the six-most in the country. Around 40% of people arrested around Denver by ICE in 2025 had criminal records, the analysis shows.

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