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Arrest Nets 20 Illegals

By MICHELLE BLUM



Nearly 20 Mexican nationals, who were in the U.S. illegally, were detained for a time early Tuesday morning by Belmont County Sheriff’s deputies but were then released.

Belmont County Sheriff Fred Thompson said the Mexicans, including a juvenile, were detained following a traffic stop on Interstate 470 eastbound. However, he could not say why the van in which they were traveling was stopped.

The incident comes less than a week after Ohio County Sheriff Tom Burgoyne announced 80 illegal aliens had been taken into custody in his county since May 2005.

Burgoyne, a strong opponent of the release policies of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, is usually successful in getting ICE agents from the agency’s Pittsburgh office to take custody of the illegal aliens arrested in the West Virginia county.

“ICE was probably glad they didn’t make it to the West Virginia border,” Burgoyne said Tuesday, noting he certainly understands the problem facing Thompson. “He has to expect the federal government to pay the jail bill. That’s what we do.”

According to Thompson, a deputy told him three of the aliens arrested near milepost 5 of I-470 were previously deported but had returned to the United States.

The group was traveling to Manassas, Va., but Thompson could not say from where they were coming.

“It’s my understanding they had Illinois temporary plates on the van,” he said.

Thompson did not know how deputies learned the van occupants, all males, were in the U.S. illegally.

Deputies contacted immigration officials, who told them to release the illegal aliens, Thompson said.

“What could we do? We don’t have the facilities to hold 20 illegal aliens,” Thompson said. “Basically, it’s a Catch-22 situation. Even if we wanted to keep them, we wouldn’t be able to.”

Meanwhile, Hazleton, Pa., City Council last week tentatively approved a measure that would revoke the business licenses of companies that employ illegal immigrants, impose $1,000 fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and make English the official language of the city.

Hazleton is located in eastern Pennsylvania on Interstate 80, a major highway through the eastern U.S.

U.S. Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, expressed “outrage” over what he called the continued failure of the Immigration and Custom Enforcement Agency to enforce federal immigration laws.

He said the Belmont County incident follows a similar situation in Ross County, Ohio, in which four illegal aliens were detained but were ordered released by immigration officials.

“Clearly, in both Belmont and Ross counties, our local police are doing their job and working to enforce our laws. The federal government is not,” Ney commented.

Ney said after the Ross County incident, he spoke with a top immigration agency official and was “assured our laws would be enforced. Clearly, however, that is not the case. Federal immigration officials have turned their back on local police departments in Ohio. That is outrageous and unacceptable.”

The matters further highlight the importance of the U.S. Senate approving the House-passed immigration bill, he said.

The House bill focuses on border protection and the rule of law first, “which is precisely where our attention needs to be and not on a guest work/amnesty program, which I definitely refuse to support,” he said.

“In the meantime, I will be contacting (ICE) yet again to ask why this administration is still refusing to enforce our federal immigration laws,” Ney said.