Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke says dozens of criminal cases may never make it to trial because ICE is arresting defendants before they can appear in court.The warning came after a man accused of starting a brush fire near a Greeley meat plant was booked into the Weld County Jail, then taken into federal custody by ICE that same day. He never made it to a courtroom.Rourke says the pattern cuts both ways. When deportation happens before prosecution, victims are left without resolution, and defendants lose the chance to prove their innocence.ICE says the arrest was made because the man was in the country illegally, and that the agency prioritizes removing people it considers a threat to public safety, including those with pending criminal charges.The tension puts local prosecutors in an increasingly difficult position, caught between a federal immigration enforcement system and a state court process that depends on defendants actually showing up.
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