Officers take five men into custody in Summerdale
Saturday, September 08, 2007

By JOSH BEAN
Staff Reporter

Five illegal immigrants -- all construction workers -- were arrested at Summerdale School on Friday when police and immigration authorities responded to complaints that the men were commenting about female students.

Summerdale police received several complaints that workers were "talking about the girls when they changed classes," said Police Chief Dwain Riebeling. He said he men were apparently commenting about the girls' looks.

Officers went to the school, where a classroom addition is being built, and confronted several of the workers, Riebeling said.

"If we get a complaint, we have to check it out. That's basically what we do," Riebeling said. "We were there to make sure all the kids are safe and that everybody is protected in the town. ... It was just for the safety of the kids and to make sure everything is on the up-and-up and legit."

Summerdale School, which has 506 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, went into lockdown mode for about two hours, although school system spokesman Terry Wilhite and Riebeling said students were never in any danger.

Riebeling did not have names or additional details about the five illegal immigrants, other than to say all were Hispanic men. Efforts to reach officials with the U.S. Customs in Mobile failed Friday.

Five or six other illegals may have escaped through a nearby subdivision, but Riebeling said patrols of the area throughout the day found nothing.

The Summerdale arrests continued a week-long roundup that has netted more than 100 illegal immigrants in Mobile and Baldwin counties since Sunday.

The five Summerdale workers were employed by Bay Minette-based Bayshore Construction. Riebeling said the company does not face any charges in relation to the case because it used an employment agency to hire the workers.

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