Gubernatorial Candidate George Brauchler went on the record discussing the Federal government's controversial practice of arresting illegal/undocumented immigrants inside courthouses.

With the election of Donald Trump came a surge in interior immigration enforcement. With illegal border crossings down as much as 70 percent in some parts, this has freed immigration agents up to move into the country's interior to strictly enforce immigration law in cities like Denver. One way that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have accomplished this is by arresting illegal immigrants inside of Colorado courthouses. ICE's reasoning is that this practice keeps officers safe because their suspects have already gone through a metal detector and are guaranteed to be unarmed. Opponents to the practice argue that it scares victims and witnesses away from testifying. We asked George Brauchler, a prosecutor himself, what he thought about immigration arrests inside Colorado courthouses. While he understood the concerns, he stated that what the Federal government is doing is both legal and Constitutional. [VIDEO] What do you think about the Federal government's newest strategy of arresting illegal immigrants inside of Colorado courthouses? I should say, I've only heard of it happening in Denver. We're Arapahoe County and I have not heard of a single instance of that happening. And I am very sensitive, as a prosecutor, to the idea of scaring off victims and witnesses to crime, even if they have immigration issues. Now, we have tools to dealing with this, things called U-visas and other devices. I'd be sensitive to losing out on holding the bad guys accountable because of immigration consequences, but at the same time, this is Federal law. It is lawful, it is Constitutional, and it's the Federal government's obligation to enforce the laws on the books. And the fact that they choose to do it at a courthouse, I'd want to balance that against the risk of losing witnesses, but I don't think it's an absolutely wrong thing to do one way or the other. If people have put themselves in a position to come in contact with ICE and be deported or detained, that's on them. I don't know if I would try to intervene with ICE unless it had a demonstrated negative impact on our ability to get justice in the community.