A Denver police union president linked immigration to the opioid crisis during a congressional hearing Thursday. But it’s not an idea that Larimer County law enforcement is rushing to embrace.
Det. Nick Rogers, the president of the Denver Police Protective Association, argued that sanctuary cities — cities in which local governments limit how much they will work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency on immigration enforcement — make it more difficult for police to deal with and deport drug dealers.
“… it became apparent the source of the heroin was coming from Mexico and the parties selling it were also from Mexico and Honduras,” Rogers wrote in his written testimony for the subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives. “Early on, I found that almost all the buyers of the heroin were middle class, white, young adults from the three suburbs.”
He wrote that oftentimes, those who purchased narcotics in the street started out taking pain pills and then turned to heroin for a cheaper alternative after they ran out.
To say “one matter is the causation of the other matter, I would have to spend a lot more time looking at data,” said Northern Colorado Fraternal Order of Police Lodge President Officer Chris Renn.
Renn, who investigates narcotics in Fort Collins but was speaking in his capacity as lodge president, said Rogers’ theory is worth exploring, as are other theories on what’s causing the opioid crisis nationally, “so we can make inroads towards impacting the opioid epidemic and keeping our communities and officers safe.”
Colorado State Lodge Fraternal Order of Police member Sgt. Sean Harper said from his experience, there are several factors contributing to the opioid crisis, which starts with overprescribing.
Because of the high cost of the pills, those who become addicted to opiates get priced out and turn to heroin and other options, Harper said.
At the same time, with doctors prescribing the pills less, those addicted are also turning to heroin and the drug market, he added.
Personally, Harper said, he wouldn’t tie immigration to the crisis. Harper works for the narcotics unit of the Longmont Police Department.
“I think, unfortunately, once marijuana was legalized, it became a lot easier for cartels to grow their marijuana up here in the states for redistribution,” Harper said, speaking on behalf of the lodge.
That freed up time for the heroin trade, Harper said.
Northern Colorado Drug Task Force Lt. Joe Shellhammer also points to Colorado marijuana legalization changing the way drug cartels do business, because of a loss of “millions upon billions of dollars.”
“That was their bread and butter; that was their money-making thing, bringing marijuana up from the border and then throughout the country,” he said.
So they turned into methamphetamine, heroin and now fentanyl, Shellhammer said.
Though the large suppliers are often coming from south of the border, according to Shellhammer, by the time the drugs make their way to Larimer County in particular, “our heroin guys are usually multi-ounce guys coming from Denver or other sources.”
“Would I consider all (Larimer County’s) dealers from Mexico, Nicaragua or Honduras? No, not in Larimer County. … It touches everybody by the time it gets to us,” he said.
But the opioid crisis is a national one, not just tied to Colorado, and law enforcement and communities continue working on finding solutions to the crisis.
In Harper’s view, the the solutions are multifold: Street cops are focusing efforts on pursuing dealers; more programs are being implemented to help the addicts themselves; and doctors are working on finding new methods of treatment.
Denver city officials refuted Rogers’ claims, saying sanctuary cities only protect immigration status in civil matters, and if someone were to be arrested on criminal charges, they would be subject to prosecution.
Fort Collins is not a sanctuary city, contrary to information circling the internet.
In Larimer County, the sheriff’s office cooperates with ICE when someone has been booked into the jail, though it does not hold inmates for ICE once they have completed required sentences.
Tying immigration to the opioid crisis is one that continues to demonize immigrants, said Patricia Miller, an organizer of Alianza NORCO in Fort Collins.
“This (detective) is helping this administration continue to demonize immigrants, a group that has much lower rates of criminal activity than the native born,” Miller said in a statement. “Police officers are not being paid to track down undocumented immigrants. That is the task that ICE gets paid for — and they have been targeting people without any criminal records, even when they’re trying to follow the very limited avenues to obtaining their citizenship.”
credit:coloradoan.com