Days after being spared prison for a deadly drunken-driving crash, a “Dreamer” – an undocumented immigrant brought to the U.S. as a child – was arrested Wednesday in Colorado Springs by federal immigration authorities intent on deporting him.

Now, supporters of Oscar Guerrero-Olivares, 30, want to know why he became a target for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement even after receiving a judge’s leniency and support from the victim’s parents.

“It’s basically a slap in the face to all the people that have been working with him – his probation officers, his judge, the legal team,” said Richard Skorman, a Colorado Springs city councilman, activist and businessman who employed the defendant at a downtown pizza restaurant and spoke on his behalf at his sentencing.

The arrest by federal authorities is an example of how immigration law has “taken power and discretion out of the hands of local officials,” said Stephanie Izaguirre, an immigration lawyer in Colorado Springs and Pueblo.

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That’s just as true for so-called “Dreamers” who commit crimes.

“You have all these kids who feel American,” she said. “They have lived their entire lives here and yet they have no permanent protection.”

His case raises familiar issues for attorneys who work with immigrant populations, forcing them to balance the risks of prison versus deportation, said Eric Parvi, an immigration lawyer in Colorado Springs.

One strategy, experts say, is to keep clients out of jail, where their fingerprints would be automatically uploaded into law enforcement databases monitored by ICE.

Guerrero-Olivares was on ICE’s radar since shortly after his arrest.

After being jailed in El Paso County, he was denied release on bail because of an ICE request that he be held by the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office once his case was over. That hold was set aside last March after El Paso County District Court Judge Eric Bentley ruled that such ICE requests weren’t lawful grounds to hold undocumented immigrants in Colorado.

The issue of honoring ICE detainers remains in conflict, however, after a different judge in the district, Lin Billings Vela, ruled that the detainer requests were lawful in a case involving the Teller County jail. The dueling opinions are likely to be resolved by a higher court.

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Facing two to six years in prison, Guerrero-Olivares was sentenced Thursday to six years on probation. He is reportedly being held in a federal immigration facility in Aurora.

He intends to fight his deportation, but a hearing could be months or even years away, said his criminal defense attorney, Danny Kay.

An upcoming bond hearing will determine if he remains incarcerated pending a ruling.

ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok wasn’t available to discuss the agency’s prerogatives because he is among the 380,000 federal workers furloughed under a partial government shutdown resulting from a clash over President Donald Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The case comes as that shutdown stretched into a record fourth week and highlights the uncertain fate of undocumented immigrants convicted of crimes in the U.S., particularly those known as Dreamers.

A nearly lifelong resident of Texas, Guerrero-Olivares was spared deportation and allowed to receive a work permit under the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

After a Nov. 24, 2017, crash in Fountain that killed his passenger and closest friend, Zeferino Castro Jr., of Lufkin, Texas, he is now at risk of being separated from his wife, a U.S. citizen, and sent to Mexico, where he hasn’t lived since he was 1 or 2 years old and has no relatives.

“He doesn’t know a single person in Mexico,” said Kay.

The men, both residents of small towns in eastern Texas, were visiting Colorado for Thanksgiving when their Nissan sedan swerved off Interstate 25 near Fountain and rolled four times, ejecting Castro, who died in the crash.

A Colorado State Patrol trooper said in an arrest affidavit that Guerrero-Olivares, the driver, had a “strong odor” of alcohol and “thick tongued” speech. The results of a blood alcohol test weren’t disclosed.

In November, he pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide under a deal that tossed remaining counts, including one alleging drunken driving. In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors agreed not to request a prison sentence.

The dead man’s parents drove 17 hours to appeal for mercy at his sentencing last week, joining a tearful presentation in which supporters described Guerrero-Olivares as a law-abiding resident who made a tragic mistake. Fourth Judicial District Judge Thomas Kelly Kane imposed the probationary sentence and 600 hours of community service, saying his decision was driven by individual circumstances, not political considerations.

Supporters cheered, and Guerrero-Olivares, whose friend died in his arms, resolved to continue working and to satisfy terms of his probation.

But shortly before 10 a.m. Wednesday, two ICE agents appeared at Poor Richard’s Restaurant, 320 N. Tejon St., and took him into custody.

Advocates for Guerrero-Olivares say they worked tirelessly to minimize his risk of being deported, believing that a sentence that didn’t include prison would give him the best shot at staying off ICE’s radar.

The defendant was advised that he could be deported after the plea, Kay said, though an immigration expert consulted by the defense was “taken aback” by the arrest.

Two independent immigration experts told The Gazette that Guerrero-Olivares was at significant risk of attracting scrutiny under the plea no matter what.

“Even under Obama, someone like this kid would have been a target, I would guess, but under Trump for sure,” said Izaguirre, the immigration lawyer. Given the risk of prison, however, she called the probationary sentence a best-case scenario, calling it “an amazing plea.”

Even amid changes and uncertainty in the immigration system, Skorman said customers and employees were “shocked” by the appearance of ICE agents at Poor Richard’s.

As a kitchen worker who sometimes manned the register, Guerrero-Olivares usually came early and agreed to work late. Last week, he worked a 12-hour shift when a coworker fell ill.

“He’s an American through and through,” Skorman said.