While repeating the discredited claim that Denver is a so-called “sanctuary city” for illegal immigrants on his September 21 KHOW-AM radio show, host Peter Boyles falsely stated that in the Denver Police Department Operations manual, police officers are “mandated not to call” the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (known as ICE or BICE) when a suspected illegal immigrant is arrested. In fact, as Colorado Media Matters has noted, the Denver Police Operations Manual contains no such mandate. Instead, it states that “when a suspect believed to be an undocumented immigrant is arrested for other charges, a 'Refer to Immigration' charge will be added to the original charges. Sheriff's Department personnel will then notify the B.I.C.E. authorities according to their procedures.”

Boyles made his comments during a September 21 discussion with Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) about the recent murder of a Colorado woman by a suspected illegal immigrant, which Tancredo blamed in part on Denver city policies.

Boyles claimed that Denver police did not report the suspect in the murder, Jose Luis Rubi-Nava, to ICE following a previous arrest in April because “we know by reading the [Denver] police department operations manual they are mandated not to call” ICE:

TANCREDO: But you see, if the mayor and the city of Denver were not running a sanctuary city, then you would have your officers communicating with ICE every single time this happens and then, if ICE doesn't do the job, you are off the hook. ICE is on the hook.

BOYLES: But we know, this morning, Jeff Coop, ICE special agent, said he never received any phone calls from Denver because, as we know by reading the police department operations manual, they are mandated not to call.

The Rocky Mountain News reported September 21 that Denver police stopped Rubi-Nava on April 21 because the license plates on the car he was driving “came up on a national database as associated with a wanted party.” Officers arrested Rubi-Nava after noticing that the Mexican identification card he presented appeared to be forged. The News reported, that according to the Denver Sheriff's Department, Rubi-Nava spent the night of April 21 “in jail” and that he “was charged April 22 with providing false identification, driving without a valid license and having no proof of insurance.” According to the News, he was “released on his own recognizance” after being charged, and “all three charges were dismissed April 27.”

Media outlets have issued conflicting reports on whether Denver police flagged Rubi-Nava as a suspected illegal immigrant. The News reported, “Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman said Jose Luis Rubi-Nava was flagged for the attention of immigration officials -- but acknowledged that the paperwork to prove that is no longer available.” Contrary to the News report, The Denver Post reported September 21, “But as is the case when Denver police have no reason to believe someone is in the country illegally, they did not contact Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] agents, said Virginia Quiñones, Denver police spokeswoman.”

But if Denver officials failed to contact ICE in this particular case, it is not because, as Boyles falsely claimed, the police Operations Manual prevents them from doing so. While the manual does state that Denver police officers generally “will not detain, arrest or take enforcement action against a person solely because he/she is suspected of being an undocumented immigrant,” [emphasis added] it also states that “when a suspect believed to be an undocumented immigrant is arrested for other charges, a 'Refer to Immigration' charge will be added to the original charges.” The latter regulation apparently would have applied to Rubi-Nava's arrest. Section 104.52 of the manual, “Arrest/Detention of Foreign Nationals” states:

104.5 2/3b: Generally, officers will not detain, arrest or take enforcement action against a person solely because he/she is suspected of being an undocumented immigrant.

104.5 2/3c: However, when a suspect believed to be an undocumented immigrant is arrested for other charges, a 'Refer to Immigration' charge will be added to the original charges. Sheriff's Department personnel will then notify the B.I.C.E. authorities according to their procedures.

Later in the broadcast with Boyles, Tancredo excused himself, explaining that “in a few minutes, I have to go down on the floor of the House and speak in favor of a bill” that “say[s] to every state and local government in the country, look, help us with this.” Tancredo then stated, “And I'm going to use our story here.”

Tancredo apparently was referring to a bill that, according to a September 22 article in the Denver Post, would “allow[] local law enforcement officials to arrest people for immigration violations.”

Later in the day on September 21, KCNC's CBS4 News at 5:00 p.m. covered Tancredo's speech on the House floor, in which he falsely claimed that Denver is a “sanctuary city.” CBS4 did not challenge Tancredo's statement during its 5 p.m. broadcast. As shown on CBS4, Tancredo said:

TANCREDO: If the job had been done at the federal level and the job had been done at the local level, this gentleman would have been off the streets. If it were done at the federal level, he would have never gotten into the country. If the local community -- the local police had been able to do their job, except for their sanctuary-city provisions that stopped them, he would have been off the streets in April and would not have been able to commit this horrible crime.

A subsequent KCNC report on Tancredo's speech, on CBS4 News at 6:30 p.m., featured a clip of Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper refuting Tancredo's statements. According to Hickenlooper's comments from the 6:30 broadcast, “Denver has never been a sanctuary city; however many times you call Denver a sanctuary city, it's not.” CBS4 reporter Terry Jessup also stated during the same broadcast, “The mayor says if there was a mistake in letting Rubi-Nava go, it was an error in execution, not a reflection of policy.”

Boyles's and Tancredo's assertions that “Denver is a sanctuary city” is the latest in a pattern that Colorado Media Matters previously has noted. A Colorado statute enacted May 1 prohibiting so-called “sanctuary” policies defines such policies as “local government ordinances or policies that prohibit local officials, including peace officers, from communicating or cooperating with federal officials with regard to the immigration status of any person within the state.” In contrast to Boyles's assertion that “Denver is a sanctuary city,” a June 11 Rocky Mountain News article quoted Carl Rusnok, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesman for Colorado, saying: “There aren't any cities in Colorado that refuse to call us. ... I know of no Colorado city that has a policy against calling ICE.”

From the September 21 broadcast of KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show:

BOYLES: Police officers are paramilitary. They do what the civilians tell them to do. The column that Mike Littwin writes this morning is disgusting. “In case you haven't tuned into talk radio yet today, I'll give you a hint on how the spin is surely going to be in the dragging death” -- he calls it the “dragging death case.” “They will be blaming the Denver cops and they'll be calling Denver a sanctuary city.” I'm not blaming the Denver cops and Denver is a sanctuary city.

[...]

TANCREDO: You cannot say that Denver is not culpable in this. Because if they had done what they were supposed to do -- First of all, now, see, this gets even -- I did not know what the charges were. All I knew yesterday when I was talking on the radio and talking to the press is that he had been stopped and that he did not have proper identification. So I didn't know the rest of this stuff. I didn't know what the car, the wanted car, I didn't know that he, that you could actually tell that, you know, the ID had been tampered with. All those things should have put him in the slammer right then.

BOYLES: Of course.

TANCREDO: And while he was in the slammer, they're talking to ICE and saying “look, we've got somebody here, here's the situation, we're going to prosecute and the minute he serves his time you are going to deport him.” That is supposed to be what happens. Now, I can -- I totally understand the frustration on the part of a lot of Denver police who call and “what do you got, one guy with this? Forget about it.” But you see, if the mayor and the city of Denver were not running a sanctuary city, then you would have your officers communicating with ICE every single time this happens and then, if ICE doesn't do the job, you are off the hook. ICE is on the hook.

BOYLES: But we know, this morning, Jeff Coop, ICE special agent, said he never received any phone calls from Denver because, as we know by reading the police department operations manual, they are mandated not to call.

TANCREDO: That's right.

[...]

TANCREDO: Well, in a few minutes, I have to go down on the floor of the House and speak in favor of a bill that's coming up today that will be, um, it's a bill saying to every state and local government in the country, look, help us with this. We will give you money. You have the right -- you have the absolute right to participate in this process of identifying illegal aliens in this country. We're gonna support you, we'll give you training if you want it. I'm going to go down there on the floor in just a few minutes, and I'm going to use our story here. I'm going to explain why it is important for local law enforcement to do what they need to do and why it's important for the federal government to do what it needs to do.

BOYLES: This is an amazing story.

From the September 21 KCNC's CBS4 News at 5:00 p.m.:

MOLLY HUGHES (co-anchor): Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo says that dragging death could have been prevented. He says Rubi-Nava should have been sent back to Mexico after being pulled over last April on a traffic violation, but Tancredo claims police let him go.

TANCREDO: If the job had been done at the federal level and the job had been done at the local level, this gentleman would have been off of the streets. If it were done at the federal level, he would have never gotten into the country. If the local community -- if the local police had been able to do their job, except for their sanctuary-city provisions that stopped them, he would have been off the streets in April and would not have been able to commit this horrible crime.

HUGHES: The House is voting on legislation that would make it easier to detain and deport illegal immigrants.

From the September 21 KCNC's CBS4 News at 6:30 p.m.:

HICKENLOOPER: Denver has never been a sanctuary city; however many times you call Denver a sanctuary city, it's not.

JESSUP: Denver's mayor says local police are not told to go easy on illegals because our economy needs them.

HICKENLOOPER: We do not arrest people just because they don't have their driver's license and put them in jail and then turn them over to ICE, because we've got a thousand people a week and we just don't -- we'd need a jail five times bigger than the one that we're building now if we were even going to consider that.

JESSUP: The mayor says if there was a mistake in letting Rubi-Nava go, it was an error in execution, not a reflection of policy.