This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aim to inform readers across the state.
A 19-year-old University of Utah student was detained by immigration agents last week while traveling in Colorado and is now being held at an immigration center there.
Caroline Dias Goncalves was arrested on Thursday, June 5, while driving to Denver. Family and friends say she was first pulled over by a police officer while passing through the town of Fruita.
The officer told her she was driving too close to a semi truck, said Dias Goncalves’ brother. The Salt Lake Tribune has agreed not to publish her brother’s name as he is in the process of applying for a visa and does not have legal status. He said he fears he, his wife and their children will be targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, for speaking out.
The Tribune verified his identity speaking with him over a video call where he also showed his ID card that included his name and address.
The immigration detention center in Aurora — just outside of Denver — also verified that Dias Goncalves is being held there. The Tribune called the center Thursday morning and provided Dias Goncalves’ name and date of birth; an employee who ran the check confirmed, “We’ve got her.”
An email to the ICE media address was not returned.
Her brother said Dias Goncalves has been able to call her family a few times since she was detained and told them what happened.
When Dias Goncalves, he said, showed the officer in Fruita her driver license, the officer said it looked fake and started asking her where she was from. Dias Goncalves said she lived in Utah. The officer, her brother said, questioned if that was the case because he thought she had an accent. Her brother and friends told The Tribune that she doesn’t have an accent, though. One friend was on the phone with Dias Goncalves when she was pulled over.
Dias Goncalves then told the officer she was born in Brazil and came to Utah as a kid with her parents. Her brother said that was in 2012, when Dias Goncalves was 7.
The officer told her he would let her go with a warning. Shortly after, though, a few miles down the road in Grand Junction, she was pulled over again, this time by immigration officers who arrested her, her brother said.
“We’re going to take you,” Dias Goncalves said they told her, according to her brother. They didn’t cite a reason.
For two days, the family didn’t know what happened, until Dias Goncalves was able to call on Saturday, her brother said. They had been tracking her phone and noticed her location froze in Aurora.
“We can’t do anything,” her brother said. “We’re scared. We’re not in jail with her, but we feel like it.”
His mom, he said, hasn’t stopped crying since she learned her daughter was being held. His dad, he said, paces back and forth all day, unsure what to do.
Dias Goncalves’ arrest comes as President Donald Trump has pushed his administration to crack down on illegal immigration across the country. ICE enforcement has made headlines as agents have conducted major sweeps and arrests.
Her brother and friends say Dias Goncalves had done everything she could to have the right documents and proper status.
Her parents came from Brazil to the United States 12 years ago, bringing Dias Goncalves with them after experiencing violence there, including being robbed and held as hostages by gangs several times, Dias Goncalves’ brother said.
They originally had a six-month tourist visa, which they overstayed, Dias Goncalves’ brother said. He came to the United States separately, later, with his wife and children.
“It wasn’t her fault,” he said. “My parents came over. They came over to try for a better life.”
They didn’t return to Brazil, he said, when the tourist visa expired because they were afraid. “They didn’t know what to do,” he said.
Three years ago, his parents and Dias Goncalves applied for asylum. That’s been pending in court since. “You’re just on hold,” he said. “I know she’s out of status, but I don’t get it. She was trying.”
Dias Goncalves has no criminal record. She was pulled over in April 2023, as a juvenile, for a traffic infraction of driving an unsafe vehicle. That was dismissed by the court.
“We pay our taxes,” Dias Goncalves’ brother added. “We try to do everything right. We’re trying to do it in the right way. But it’s tougher that way.”
When they applied for asylum, Dias Goncalves and her parents were each given work permits, “limited” driver licenses and Social Security numbers. Dias Goncalves had been working and attending the University of Utah on a merit scholarship.
The U. confirmed it has a student by Dias Goncalves’ name but declined to say more about her. “We do not collect information about immigration status,” said school spokesperson Rebecca Walsh.
Izzy Akers,who lives with Dias Goncalves, said she first met her when Dias Goncalves started at the U. in January 2024. They lived in the same campus dorm during their freshman year and had recently moved to a Salt Lake City apartment together.
Akers said she has been communicating with Dias Goncalves’ family since she was detained. They are currently trying to get Dias Goncalves out of the detention center on bond. She has an initial court appearance set for June 18.
Friends and family are trying to raise money to cover the costs of an attorney. They launched a GoFundMe page that says: “Caroline has always followed the law, passionately pursued her education and dreamed of a future full of opportunity. Yet she now finds herself unlawfully detained, frightened and far from the safety and support she deserves.”
Akers said Dias Goncalves started school thinking she would major in business, which her LinkedIn page shows, but decided she wanted to go into nursing instead. Dias Goncalves had been taking care of her ailing grandmother, who recently died.
“She’s the most caring person ever, so sweet, so nice,” Akers said of her friend.
The two love country music and would go any any concerts they could together, as well as sports events at the U.
Her brother said Dias Goncalves loves studying, and her family has been proud to see her pursuing higher education.
The family has retained a lawyer, but the costs are already adding up, he said. They’ve spent $3,000 just in talking to attorneys in the past few days, he said, and they’re being told it will be $12,000 to work on Dias Goncalves’ case — with no promises that she will be released on bond.
They also have to send money to Dias Goncalves at the detention center so she can use the phones to call them. The family isn’t allowed to call her.
The family lives in Utah County, and it’s been hard, he said, being so far away from where Dias Goncalves is being held. Also, she was driving to Denver in her dad’s car — on her way to visit a friend — and they don’t know where the vehicle is or how to get it back.
Her brother said Dias Goncalves said she’s sharing a cell at the Aurora detention center with 17 other women and the conditions are harsh. The food there, he said his sister has told him, is inedible. And the staff, he said, have been treating those detained roughly. He’s worried about her mental state, and says she needs to be released before it worsens.
“We’re going to fight for her,” he said.
