Overview

• Caroline Dias Goncalves was pulled over on June 5 by Deputy Alexander Zwinck for following a semitrailer too closely and questioned about her accent before her details were shared with federal agents.
• Immigration officers arrested her a few miles later on Interstate 70 and she spent 15 days at the Aurora GEO Detention Facility before posting bond on June 20.
• In her first remarks since release, Dias Goncalves described her time in ICE custody as a “nightmare,” citing soggy meals, confusing schedules and language-based mistreatment.
• The 19-year-old Brazilian-born student came to the U.S. at age 7, has a pending asylum application and studies nursing at the University of Utah on a scholarship from TheDream.US.
• Mesa County authorities are reviewing Signal messages from the group chat used in her arrest to determine if the drug interdiction channel was misused for civil immigration enforcement under state law.