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Immigrants Walk Out of Morton County Hospital
Audrey Martin
KWCH 12 Eyewitness News
Thursday, February 23, 2006


The C-E-O tells us the hospital isn't a jail and can't legally force anyone to stay there.

When the illegal immigrants did leave, hospital staff called the sheriff's office.

"The police asked us to please let them know when they were being discharged and that was our only obligation," Leonard Hernandez, the CEO of the hospital, said.

Sheriff Loren Youngers says his office didn't file charges against the immigrants, so they couldn't do much either.

Instead, it had dispatchers call Immigration Customs Enforcement and sent deputies out to look for the two who didn't return to the hospital.

Deputies found the men at a pay phone trying to call Mexico.

Now, they're both in jail waiting for more action from immigration officials.