Four arrested in Avon immigration raid

AVON — Six-year-old Javier Vargas was sitting in the living room early
Wednesday morning when there was a loud knock at the door.

He turned the knob and opened the door a bit when seven Avon police officers
and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers pushed the door open and
came into the house.

“The door hit my nose and pushed me back,” said Javier, demonstrating the
events.

The incident was part of an ICE operation Tuesday morning at the Sunridge
Apartments and trailer park, both in Avon. Officers arrested four men as
part of an immigration investigation.

ICE had a list of people they were investigation for being “criminal illegal
aliens,” said Avon Police Department Information Officer Krista Jaramillo.
ICE agent Carl Rusnok said the agency is still investigating the incident
and could not give any information on the arrests.

Officers arrested Roberto Carlos Urquia, 36, outside the apartment for not
having a work permit, then went inside the home and arrested Roberto Fausto
Marquina-Banegas, Jose David Marquina-Gonzales, and Humberto Varela.
Urquia was released the next day, but the other three are still being held
at the Glenwood Springs ICE Detention Facility, said Hilda Vargas, Javier’s
mother.

Hilda Vargas, 34, said she asked the officers for their orders when they
came into the house and tried to call the police department for information
afterward.

“I asked, Do you have and immigration or police order to enter my house?
And they said they didn’t. They entered my house by force and messed
everything up and scared Javier,” she said.

Vargas said she has a green card, but Urquia and the other three men did
not. However, she said the men, all in their 20s, did not have deportation
orders, were hard-working and were not criminals.

Vargas and Urquia said they think the arrests were in connection with a
robbery at Castenada’s Mexican Market in January. Their three roommates were
questioned about the incident, but were not involved in the robbery or
charged with the crime, they said.

However, Jaramillo said no specific charges were listed in the police
report. Avon Police were only there to assist the ICE officers, she said.
Now, Vargas and Urquia sit in their kitchen, wondering what happened to
their roommates. The two are from Honduras ‹ Urquia has worked as a painter,
and Vargas works at Wal-Mart and as a housekeeper for Vail Resorts.

The couple has been together for four years and wants to get married, but
Urquia needs to work out his immigration status before they can do that, he
said.

They like the United States and hope they can stay, they said.

Vargas said she has family in Honduras, but she does not miss the country.
“I left because it is a poor country and there are many delinquents. I have
been here 14 years, and I already have a life here,” she said.

<i>La Tribuna writer Veronica Whitney contributed to this story.
Staff Writer Melanie Wong can be reached at 748-2928 or mwong@vaildaily.com.</i>