Catch and release...The Colorado State Patrol says immigration enforcement officials are letting illegal aliens go.

11 News was there when the Colorado State Patrol stopped a van packed with illegal immigrants on Interstate 70.

Troopers called in Immigration and Customs Enforcement or I.C.E. to take them into custody.

What our cameras didn't capture is just hours later I.C.E. didn't respond and all 15 were let go.

Master Trooper Ron Watkins says this is happening more and more.

In fact it's the third time illegal aliens have been let loose in Mesa County this month.

Troopers say the I.C.E. office in Mesa County is just too small to hold the busloads of illegals that they stop.

Troopers say it's a lack of space and manpower. The two holding cells at the I.C.E. office are just over 600 square feet, about the size of a studio apartment.

11 news called the I.C.E. office in Denver to ask them why these 15 illegal immigrants were let go. An agent there said the stop never happened and there is no record of it.

But as the saying goes, a picture, or in this case video, is worth a thousand words.