Thread: After deadly bus crash, immigration questions

After deadly bus crash, immigration questions
Police say hands are tied if encountering potential illegal immigrants on roads
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By John Brewer
jbrewer@pioneerpress.com
Article Last Updated: 03/01/2008 08:05:22 AM CST

Rescue workers are seen at the site of the bus crash, Tuesday Feb. 19, 2008 (AP Photo/Rae Kruger, Marshall Independent)

By the time Olga Marina Franco del Cid crashed into a school bus last week near Cottonwood, Minn., the suspected illegal immigrant had already been pulled over by police twice and hired at two companies in the past two years.

In all instances, she allegedly proffered an assumed identity, Alianiss Nunez Morales. To get the jobs, she allegedly handed over a stolen Social Security number.

Why didn't authorities or employers realize Franco, a native of Guatemala, was in the country illegally?

There's no easy answer.

"How is a small-town police department supposed to figure out where people are from?" asked Police Chief Adam Christopher, of Monte-video, where Franco, 24, was cited May 25, 2006 — as Nunez — for driving without a license. "We just don't have the ability to do that at a traffic stop."

Christopher said checking the immigration status of everyone pulled over without a license — at least one person a week — or committing some other minor offense would require too much time and manpower. Nor does he think U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants him to.

"If this is something they want us contacting them on every time — the possibility they might be an illegal alien — we certainly will call them. But I've never gotten that leadership that they wanted that done," said Christopher, echoing the views of other law enforcement officials in southwestern Minnesota.

He also questioned on what basis his officers could push for information on immigration status. "Are we using the fact that they have no driver's license or the fact that they have brown skin? We just can't operate in that manner," Christopher said.

Court records show Franco was pulled over a second time, Jan. 16 in Marshall, while riding in a minivan driven by her boyfriend, Francisco Sangabriel Mendoza, 29.

Franco showed a work ID card, while Sangabriel showed a Minnesota driver's instructional permit identifying him — falsely, it turns out — as Samuel Rivera Melendez. Sangabriel was fined for driving without a license; both were driven home after the stop by a sheriff's deputy. Franco was driving the same minivan Feb. 19 when she hit the school bus after allegedly running a stop sign.

At the Jennie-O turkey factory in Willmar — where Franco worked from October 2007 until this January — she filled out the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Form I-9, an employment eligibility verification worksheet.

It raised no red flags.

"In addition to compliance with federal hiring law, Jennie-O Turkey Store verifies Social Security numbers as a voluntary, additional step and is implementing the government E-verify system next month," said Julie Craven, spokeswoman for parent company Hormel. "The challenge inherent in all these processes is they do not detect identity theft."

Franco told authorities a cabinetry company in Cottonwood also hired her.

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann sent a letter to ICE Assistant Secretary Julie L. Myers on Feb. 22, questioning how law enforcement and ICE work together.

"While Minnesotans grieve, they also want answers," she wrote. "As one of their representatives in Congress, it is my responsibility to help get those answers and determine exactly who is responsible for this deadly error — and how to prevent these tragedies from continuing to occur."

Bachmann said Friday she had started a discussion with ICE.

"We need to secure our borders and to foster cooperation between local police and federal immigration authorities," she said in a statement. "Part of that effort involves making local law enforcement fully aware of the federal resources at their disposal and opening the lines of communication between them and ICE. There is so much work that remains to be done."

The same day Bachmann sent her letter, a Marshall police officer pulled over a man on a driving violation. The man, Pedro A. Diaz-Pineda, did not have a driver's license and gave a false name. He later admitted he was from Honduras and in the country illegally. He was arrested on charges of driving without a license and giving a false name.

Diaz-Pineda appeared in court three days later, pleaded guilty to the charges and was ordered to pay $332 in fines. Then he was released.

Robert Yant, director of public safety in Marshall, was unavailable for comment Friday.

Carl Rusnok, an ICE spokesman, said his agency can only respond to cases it is called about. And when ICE is notified, it must prioritize the cases based on the severity of the alleged crime and the agency's personnel limitations.

The 5-year-old agency, which was formed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and includes the former Immigration and Naturalization Service, has several ways for local police to help enforce immigration issues, Rusnok said.

There's 287G, the section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that allows local law enforcement to train with ICE in order to enforce immigration law.

There's also the Criminal Alien Program that allows ICE to put a detainer on jailed suspected illegal immigrants (as it did with Franco in the Lyon County Jail).

"Criminal aliens are our priority," Rusnok said. "In the case of being ticketed, it's unlikely that local law enforcement are going to ask you if you're in the country legally or illegally. But if ICE is notified, we work our hardest to respond."

UPDATE
Following the Feb. 19 Cottonwood bus crash, four Lakeview School students were killed and 15 other people were injured. On Friday, only two students remained hospitalized. Both were at Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D., in good condition.
http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ ... ck_check=1

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann sent a letter to ICE Assistant Secretary Julie L. Myers on Feb. 22, questioning how law enforcement and ICE work together.

"While Minnesotans grieve, they also want answers," she wrote. "As one of their representatives in Congress, it is my responsibility to help get those answers and determine exactly who is responsible for this deadly error — and how to prevent these tragedies from continuing to occur."

Bachmann said Friday she had started a discussion with ICE.

I think she 'gets it'.

Why didn't authorities or employers realize Franco, a native of Guatemala, was in the country illegally?

There's no easy answer.

Yes there is, they turned a blind eye! It is A BAD HABIT that needs to be changed!!!!

He also questioned on what basis his officers could push for information on immigration status. "Are we using the fact that they have no driver's license or the fact that they have brown skin? We just can't operate in that manner," Christopher said.

IDIOT!!! If you have reason to believe or suspicion that an individual is foreign born, it is perfectly legit and reasonable to look into their immigration status...ESPECIALLY IF THEY HAVE NO DRIVER'S LICENSE!!!

Sounds to me like the same old rash of excuses and attempts to avoid all responsibility: "How can we know?", "We called ICE and they didn't respond", "We're just a small agency, what are we supposed to do?", etc.

If someone were caught driving around without a license where I live, getting a mere ticket would be the least of your problems...

Quote:
He also questioned on what basis his officers could push for information on immigration status. "Are we using the fact that they have no driver's license or the fact that they have brown skin? We just can't operate in that manner," Christopher said.

IDIOT!!! If you have reason to believe or suspicion that an individual is foreign born, it is perfectly legit and reasonable to look into their immigration status...ESPECIALLY IF THEY HAVE NO DRIVER'S LICENSE

!!!

You got it right zeezil. If someone is pulled and they cannot produce a valid drivers license, probable cause would allow them to ask further questions in order to ascertain why this person does not have a valid drivers license. There is nothing discriminatory about that. It's part of normal police work and it's done everyday. If it's going to be the law that a drivers license is required to operate a motor vehicle, then why would the color of ones' skin matter in ascertaining why you were breaking the law? I don't understand that logic.

Once again, this is a situation of not having the WILL to enforce the law. From this piece, I get the sense this police chief and ICE do not have the WILL to deport those they catch driving without a license.