What Lies Beneath: Icebergs in the Path of the Voorhis Prosecution

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This article was written by a supporter of Cory Voorhis.

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Veteran federal immigration investigator Cory Voorhis faces prosecution in Denver federal district court on three misdemeanor counts of "exceeding his unauthorized access" to a federal criminal database. The case grows out of actions taken by Voorhis in October 2006 to provoke a public debate over plea bargains offered to illegal aliens facing trial in Denver courts while Bill Ritter was Denver's District Attorney.

Voorhis insists he did nothing wrong and his attorneys say they can prove it. Witnesses likely to be subpoenaed to testify in the case include the Governor of Colorado, a former US Congressman, top staff of the incumbent Denver District Attorney, the head of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and Voorhis' supervisors at the Denver regional office of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

There are troubling parallels with the 2005 prosecution in El Paso, Texas of two Border Patrol agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. Ramos and Compean were convicted of shooting a fleeing drug smuggler primarily on the testimony of the drug smuggler himself, who was granted immunity by the US Attorney. It has since been revealed that the US Attorney knew of the smuggler’s long criminal history yet succeeded in withholding this evidence from the jury.

In the Voorhis case, the credibility of the charge of criminal behavior may depend on the exclusion of evidence pertaining to corrupt practices Voorhis was trying to expose. The investigative reports filed by the US Attorney show a suspicious absence of investigation or even questioning of individuals in the Denver District Attorney’s office who accessed the same NCIC criminal database Voorhis used. The use of information gained by the Denver DA indeed may have been used for political purposes.

There is more at stake in the Voorhis case than the fate of one federal immigration enforcement agent. Voorhis' attorneys will call witnesses whose testimony can rip away the layers of secrecy and corruption that have allowed hundreds - if not thousands - of criminal aliens across Colorado to avoid felony convictions that would have made them eligible for deportation. Under oath, Denver prosecutors, the Governor of Colorado and others will have to answer questions about how criminal aliens are allowed to walk free and commit other crimes in the name of "clearing the docket."

They will have to explain how the plea bargain deals offered to illegal aliens are different from the more severe deals offered to U.S. citizens. For example, the prosecutors who worked for Bill Ritter (when Ritter was the DA) in the Denver DA's office should be asked to explain why illegal aliens facing heroin and cocaine possession charges that would meet the "aggravated felony" standard under federal law are were to plead to possession of diazepam (Valium), a charge that does not meet the deportation standard.

Federal prosecutors and CBI investigators should themselves be put on the witness stand to answer questions about the glairing shortcomings, gaps and curious disjunctions in their investigation of the case.

  • For example, why is Voorhis not charged with the release and/or distribution of the information on criminal aliens, not merely "unauthorized access"? Is it because his release of the information to the Beauprez staff was not a violation of the law?
  • Voorhis' supervisor ought to be put on the stand and asked why wasn't Voorhis immediately reprimanded or disciplined for administrative violations. Why was no action taken against Voorhis by ICE management until after the criminal charges were filed—a full year later? Is it because he did not violate any written ICE policies or guidelines in accessing the NCIC and CCIC databases or nor by disclosing information on a criminal alien to Congressman Bob Beauprez?

Many other provocative questions needing to be answered in the case of the United States verses Cory Voorhis, including:

  • What cases involving marriage fraud, human trafficking and drug smuggling have not been prosecuted by the US Attorney in the last year so as to devote limited resources to the prosecution of Cory Voorhis?
  • Did the head of the CBI, who reports directly to Governor Ritter, engage in any political bias in conducting the Voorhis investigation—an investigation demanded by gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter three weeks prior to the election—and by the absence of investigation into the legally suspicious conduct of the Denver DA's office?
  • Did the "527" Trailhead Group, an advocacy organization exempt from state campaign finance regulations, pay for the inquiries by a Houston-based private investigator to obtain information later funneled to the Beauprez campaign?
  • Did the information used in the October 10 Beauprez campaign TV ad - about the illegal alien who was given an absurd plea deal (Distribution of Heroin down to Agricultural Trespass) and who then moved on to California to committed a sexual molestation against a child - actually come from another source and not Cory Voorhis? Why didn't the CBI investigate this possibility?

There are so many case-sinking icebergs for the government to maneuver around in its effort to convict Cory Voorhis, one wonders why such a flimsy case was ever brought. The answer may well lie in the examples of Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean. Their convictions sent a message to other Border Patrol officers: do not do your duty by aggressively apprehending drug smugglers.

The prosecution of ICE agent Cory Voorhis is intended to send a similar message regarding the enforcement of our immigration laws in the interior of the nation: do not speak publicly about prosecutorial corruption and the lack of deportation of serious criminal aliens. So what if illegal aliens released under outrageous plea bargains go on to commit other serious crimes? It's not our business - the public be damned!