DIVIDE, CO — The Teller County Sheriff says more deputies will be out this weekend cracking down on illegal activity on US Forest Service land.
The increased enforcement, which began May 8, is called "Forest Service Zero Tolerance Enforcement 2026."
The sheriff's office released videos it says showcase unlawful and reckless behavior, including a man firing a gun into the forest and people drinking alcohol on Forest Service land. Sheriff Jason Mikesell says those videos have been turned over to the US Forest Service for investigation.
- Watch the videos that were released below:
Sheriff Mikesell previously posted on Facebook claiming "illegal aliens" are part of the problem and that the Forest Service was unwilling to get involved. Mikesell said the US Forest Service captain in charge of the region cited "fears that USFS Law Enforcement may be perceived to be cooperating or on parity with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement."
The Forest Service did not address those claims when asked about them. See previous coverage here.
- Watch News5's previous coverage of the claims below:
I asked Mikesell what evidence he has to support the claim that illegal aliens are involved.
"US Forest Service has told us that, "Mikesell said. We've also run into several different people out there. They've had instances of that. So that's how we know what's going on."
When I asked how many arrests of illegal aliens have been made, Mikesell said, "None."
Mikesell later added:
"I want to make it understood for all of you, we're not targeting any specific person by national origin or whomever they are. We're saying as a sheriff's office, if you're committing a criminal act, we're going to deal with you with a criminal act. If you are from another country and you're coming here and you're shooting illegally and you're putting people at risk we will do an investigation and if there is a criminal investigation that will involve ICE, then we are gonna have ICE assist us with that criminal investigation."
I also asked the Sheriff about comments made from an immigration and refugee advocacy group known as The Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition.
Annette Leyva, South Regional Organizer with the coalition said, "The Teller County Sheriff's claim that immigrants without legal status are systematically destroying national forest land is false and appears designed to stoke fear, not solve any actual public safety problem."
Mikesell responded to Leyva's statement:
"We've never said that. We said that if people are up here committing criminal acts and they're a foreign national, then ICE would get involved and so would the US Forest Service. We're not saying everyone coming up here is doing that, but we are saying that if you are, and we have had information from the US Forest Service that has been occurring, then then we're going to deal with that aspect."
No arrests have been made since the enforcement period started May 8, but the sheriff's office has issued dozens of tickets.
Mikesell said his office is using off-duty overtime assignments to fulfill the need for additional patrols, so that diverting deputies to Forest Service land does not impact safety for the rest of the county.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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