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Immigration Busters Go for Fugitive Aliens

Last Update: 8/3/2006 7:30:46 PM


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Kyle Clark (Geneva, N.Y.) - A large-scale immigration bust in Ontario County Thursday was the work of new “Fugitive Operations Teams”.

They’ve been operating across Upstate New York searching for illegal aliens who’ve been apprehended once and didn’t leave the country as ordered.

Fourteen people were taken into federal custody in Geneva. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokespeople would not say where they worked or where they are originally from.

Each of them had already been ordered deported. They'll now go back before a federal judge before being taken out of the country.

The Fugitive Operations Teams have also been at work in Wayne County recently. They’ve had no busts as large as the one in Geneva, but a customs official said there have been routine detentions.

The teams come just as the first workers of the season arrive to harvest the produce that isn't quite ripe yet.

Many legal immigrants seek help adjusting to life in our state by stopping at an outfit called Rural Opportunities in Alton near Sodus. Administrator Carlos Rodriguez said there's a lot of talk in the farm community about frequent immigration busts.

"What we have been hearing in the community is that they have been making several stops to wherever our target population frequents, for example, supermarkets, day cares, campsites. Any site where they feel they might congregate," Rodrigues said.

Word gets around about the increased enforcement. Rodriguez said Wayne County is seeing fewer early season migrant workers than normal. He thinks it's due to fears about tighter law enforcement.

Police say they arrested a man Thursday who was using fake documents at the DMV in Geneseo. Valentin Romero Velazquez, 35, is not in the U.S. legally. Police said he will not be allowed out on bail.