Thread: Sheriff To Seize Vehicles

While federal immigration officials dispute claims that they ordered the release of 20 illegal aliens apprehended Tuesday in Belmont County, Sheriff Fred Thompson has a plan for dealing with similar situations in the future.

“What we’re going to do is start seizing their vehicles and send them on their merry way,” Thompson said of future contacts with suspected illegal aliens.

Greg Palmore, spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, said agents did not order the release of 20 allegedly illegal aliens detained by deputies in Belmont County.

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, continues to support Thompson as well as the Chillicothe, Ohio, Police Department in what he described as “almost identical incidents.”

Several weeks ago, Chillicothe police apprehended four illegal immigrants in a hotel room, Ney said, but released them after immigration officials noted they had not violated any laws.

“I am 150 percent sure of the competence of Sheriff Fred Thompson and his deputies,” Ney said. “I have no doubts Fred Thompson and his deputies followed procedures. There is no reason to question them.”

Ney alleged Palmore’s comments are part of a Bush administration response to the Senate’s failure to act on its version of an immigration reform bill.

In Belmont County, a van containing the 20 illegal immigrants was stopped near milepost 5 of Interstate 470 eastbound for an unspecified traffic violation. According to Thompson, “there were bodies packed in everywhere. Everywhere you looked, there was a body.”

Palmore said Belmont County deputies reached an ICE duty agent in Columbus, who asked to speak with the suspected illegal aliens to ascertain their immigration status.

“The duty agent was told the sheriff’s department could not accommodate them,” Palmore said of the agent’s request.

“ At that point, they were set free. We never spoke with them. We never proceeded to the point of giving instructions to release them,” Palmore said of the suspected illegal immigrants. “We weren’t permitted to speak with them.”

In cases in which immigration officials determine individuals are illegal aliens through the telephone conversations, detainers are placed upon them. The illegal immigrants are then ordered held pending transfer to federal custody. The immigration agents, he said, further confirm their status and either release or continue to detain the individuals.

Thompson said the deputies involved in the incident told him there was no indication from the federal agents that they wanted to talk with the suspected illegal immigrants.

The agents, he said, were aware the deputies had cellular phones and noted the suspected illegal aliens needed to be interviewed, “but he (the duty agent) said you can’t detain them until they are interviewed. We couldn’t detain them.”

Thompson further claimed the dispatcher who contacted immigration officials several times early Tuesday was “treated rather rudely.”

Noting it is not uncommon for deputies to stop suspected illegal immigrants passing through Belmont County, Thompson said the federal agency is always contacted.

“We know what they’re going to say,” Thompson said.

http://news-register.net/articles.asp?articleID=7525

Thompson further claimed the dispatcher who contacted immigration officials several times early Tuesday was “treated rather rudely

.”
The classic ICE attitude.

Several weeks ago, Chillicothe police apprehended four illegal immigrants in a hotel room, Ney said, but released them after immigration officials noted they had not violated any laws.

WHAT ABOUT ILLEGAL DON'T THEY GET

See my sig.

They are illegal aliens and should be detained for that reason alone. That issue aside isn't 20 people in 1 vehicle excessive and posing a danger?

Seat belts there for all?