Incident follows an uptick in immigration arrests in the city, watchdog group says

Four men shackled at the chest were shuffled into a GEO transport van at an unmarked immigration detention facility on Thursday in downtown Colorado Springs.

After one of the individuals was seen being arrested outside the building that houses The Gazette, a black unmarked SUV was tracked to a condominium a few blocks away at 415 E. Pikes Peak Ave., which includes the Pueblo Bank & Trust, residential units and the Department of Homeland Security, a spokesperson confirmed.

According to the spokesperson, the office is used to temporarily hold alleged undocumented immigrants before they’re transferred to another facility.

“Many of the offices have holding cells which conform to all national detention standards and are inspected regularly. They are akin to a sheriff’s office or police department suboffice,” said the spokesperson, who did not provide a name.

Homeland Security declined to give The Gazette a tour of the office.

According to the Colorado Rapid Response Network, there have been an increase in calls and confirmed ICE activity in Colorado Springs since Sunday.

The watchdog organization documented six separate incidents on Tuesday.

“He just wanted the American Dream,” said Inez, a 22-year-old daughter of Sergio, one of the four detainees seen leaving the building. “This is our worst nightmare.”

Sergio, whose last name is being withheld at the family’s request, illegally immigrated from Mexico decades ago to escape the crime-filled city of Chihuahua, she said.

Inez, who requested her last name not be used in fear of retaliation by ICE, said her father has worked in construction in the U.S. for almost 40 years, fighting through partial blindness and medical issues to keep food on the table.

According to Inez, her father was filling up his truck at the Maverik gas station at Academy Boulevard and Hancock Avenue on Colorado Springs’ east side before leaving for work with his boss Thursday morning.

His boss told The Gazette he and another man connected to the family were swarmed by several masked and armed agents before being put in one of the four unmarked SUVs that surrounded them.

The agents didn’t produce warrants or indicate how they knew either of the two were undocumented, Inez said.

Inez and other family members got a call later that morning and quickly rushed to the 415 E. Pikes Peak Ave. address, where an ICE agent told them they could pick up their father’s keys.

“Te amo,” a family member said to Sergio as he was seen being placed in the transport vehicle.

The Gazette saw masked and armed agents going in and out of the building before leaving in unmarked black cars.

When asked what they were doing, an agent said, “Their job.”

“I’m scared they’re going to hurt him,” Inez said. “With all of the news that’s going on about the guy (that got killed) in Houston, it scares me.”