U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office are embroiled in a spat over a man not being detained past the maximum time permitted by state law.

Jose Lopez-Hildago, 32, of Honduras, was arrested by the sheriff’s office for a DUI and had his release processed on Wednesday, according to social media posts from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and from ICE Denver.

Under Colorado law, law enforcement must release an inmate within six hours of when they are eligible, the office said in its post, adding that it notifies ICE every time the agency requests information on when an inmate is scheduled for release.

Additionally, a spokesperson from the office confirmed Friday that a 2019 Colorado bill explicitly prohibits law enforcement from handing inmates over to ICE or detaining them solely on ICE detainers. 

On Wednesday afternoon, ICE Denver posted on social media asking for community assistance in locating Hildalgo, whom the agency said had been released from Jefferson County without being appropriately turned over.

About a day later, the sheriff’s office published its perspective on the matter, detailing the time frame in which it received the order to release Hildago as well as its communications with ICE throughout the day.

The sheriff’s office said that, while speaking to an an ICE representative over the phone at about noon Wednesday, notifying them of Hildalgo’s pending release, the representative asked if they could narrow down the time frame when he would be released within that six-hour window. When the office told them that they could not be more specific, the representative informed them that the agency would not be coming.

ICE Denver’s X account then made a post about the man, saying that the office had released him just a few hours later. Hildalgo was released over two and a half hours after the office notified ICE, a counter post from the sheriff’s office says.

“When we called the ICE Denver office about their misleading post, they made their position unmistakable: if we do not provide ICE extra time to coordinate inmate pickups from our facility, in violation of Colorado law, deceptive posts like yesterday’s will become the norm,” the sheriff’s office said in its post on Thursday.

The sheriff’s office also noted in its post that, by state law, it is not legally allowed to directly turn over an inmate to any law enforcement agency without a judicially authorized warrant.

Also, the office said Friday, ICE often does not show up after being notified that a person of interest is being released, and that the process of releasing an inmate can vary greatly from person to person depending on the details of their particular release and how many inmates are being released around the same time frame.

The sheriff’s office confirmed Friday that it has had no further communication with ICE since yesterday morning. Despite multiple requests for comment, ICE did not respond to questions about this incident.