An Army veteran who has been in ICE custody since January was deported Friday morning, Denver7 has learned.
ICE told Denver7 in a statement that Jose Barco had been removed from the U.S. and sent to Mexico, confirming what Barco's attorney told the station earlier Friday.
Barco's immigration case has made headlines throughout the year. Barco received a Purple Heart in the military. He also has a criminal conviction related to a shooting in southern Colorado in 2008.
He was given a final order of removal in February after being arrested at the Colorado State Penitentiary in Canon City, where ICE said he had been serving a sentence for a conviction of attempted murder, extreme indifference, and felony menacing with a real or simulated weapon, in January.
Barco’s appeals for relief were denied in immigration court in late September and the court ordered his removal.
Anna Stout, a volunteer communications and political strategist on Barco’s defense team, told Denver7 on Friday that Barco was removed from the ICE detention facility on Tuesday. She said they learned this only because another detained individual contacted Barco’s family with the news.
“We were not provided any notification from the facility itself from DHS or ICE,” said Stout, who is a city councilwoman in Grand Junction. “Jose was not able to reach out to his family before any of this initiated. So this has been [...] a frustrating process.”
Reports indicate that Barco was initially taken to a facility in Florence, Arizona before he was deported.
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A veteran, a conviction: One man's story of immigration, potential deportation
Barco was born in Venezuela and was admitted to the U.S. in 1990. He joined the Army at age 17 and spent two tours overseas. He was wounded in combat and received a Purple Heart and was medically discharged.
In 2009, he was convicted of two counts of attempted murder with extreme indifference and felony menacing after he fired a gun at a Colorado Springs house party in 2008. One of those shots hit a pregnant woman. He was sentenced to more than 50 years in jail, but was paroled after 15 years.
Barco’s family and other supporters claim the crime was connected to post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury.
“Jose really strikes me as a person who is just a really resilient and caring person. And he's been through more adversity than I think most of us can imagine going through,” Stout said.
Stout noted early Friday that the online locator system indicated that Barco had left the country, but that his defense team had not been notified about his whereabouts.
She also said it was “ironic” that Barco was initially moved on Veterans Day, which is also the anniversary of the first time he was wounded overseas where he helped save other members of his unit after they were hit by a car bomb.
Barco has a wife and teenaged daughter.
“This has been incredibly difficult for his family,” Stout said. “And as you can imagine right now, to add insult to injury, not only are they dealing with the weight of all of that, but also the uncertainty about what's happening to their loved one.”
Denver7 reporters Colette Bordelon and Natalie Chuck contributed to this report.
