Thread: Barletta cries foul after feds fail to take arrested illegal

“When illegals are caught breaking the law, I expect them to be detained and deported,” the mayor continued. “They are not welcome in Hazleton. I’ve made it known all over the nation.
“We will not have our people injured or killed by people who don’t belong here.”
Barletta said the nearest ICE office is in Philadelphia, and he will continue to lobby to get an office closer to Hazleton.

Way to GO Lou!

There's something about a man named Lou

I wonder what would have happened if they'd loaded these two released illegal alien in a squad car, turned on lights/sirens and delivered them to Philadelphia. Could they have turned them away?

Mayor Lou is a true American and a Leader!

IF every government official had what Mayor Lou has America would be a much better place!

I'm wondering if ICE has been ordered not to go to Hazleton by higher-ups? Maybe to send a message to Barletta and other cities that try to enforce our laws?

Had_Enuf wrote:

I wonder what would have happened if they'd loaded these two released illegal alien in a squad car, turned on lights/sirens and delivered them to Philadelphia. Could they have turned them away?

Excellent question, Enuf, wish I had the answer to that one.

ICE wasn’t informed of illegal aliens’ arrest until after release
Wednesday, 18 April 2007
By L.A. TARONE

The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not refuse to pick up two illegals involved in a Hazleton chase this weekend.
ICE’s Washington office said the bureau was not informed of their arrest until after they were released.
Mayor Lou Barletta concurred, adding that there was a miscommunication among city personnel regarding ICE’s procedure.
The chase happened early Sunday, starting about 12:30 a.m., when a vehicle with four men inside failed to stop for police at Church and Maple streets. The chase went east to Broad Street and involved an illegal left turn onto Wyoming, northbound. The car was stopped shortly thereafter in a parking lot at Wyoming and Spruce streets.
The driver, Klever Juanacio, 33, of Brooklyn, N.Y,, was cited for drunk driving, fleeing and eluding police, false identification to law enforcement authorities and numerous vehicle code violations.
Two passengers, Pazual Perez, 29, of East Broad Street, Hazleton, and Jose Alberto-Perez of East Green Street, Hazleton, were cited for public drunkenness. Another passenger, Juan Fuentes, 32, of Winters Avenue, West Hazleton, was cited for resisting arrest and public drunkenness.
Juanacio is in Luzerne County Correctional Facility. Fuentes is also still in police custody.
But Perez and Alberto-Perez were cited and released.
Fuentes is the only one of the four in the country legally.
However, Ernestine Fobbs of ICE’s Washington office said it wasn’t informed of their arrest until after Perez and Alberto-Perez were released.
“We respond to such complaints completely,” Fobbs said. “We have been responding 100 percent. But we did not know anything about this case until another reporter contacted us looking for a response to the story in your paper. No one contacted us before that.”
“She’s correct,” Barletta said Tuesday. “There was a miscommunication with an officer who believed filing an inquiry through an ICE computer database would result in a detainer being issued. But it does not.”
So, he said, no request for a detainer was ever made and ICE wasn’t informed of the citations.
“There’s a database that ICE has that is available only to law enforcement,” Barletta said. “You can identify a person’s immigration status using it. “
Barletta said someone involved in the case was under the mistaken belief that checking the database for a name that was not listed as being in the country illegally automatically resulted in a detainer from ICE. In fact, law enforcement must request a detainer – which, in this case, wasn’t done.
“That’s how it was communicated to me, that ICE would not issue a detainer,” Barletta said. “But that was not the case; they weren’t aware we’d picked (the suspects in the case) up.”
“There was a miscommunication and we’re working to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he added.
“There’s a procedure that law enforcement goes through in order to contact us,” Fobbs said. “There’s certain information to be submitted. Also, there is a follow-up procedure; if there’s something law enforcement doesn’t understand, they can follow it up. But that didn’t happen this time. We didn’t know anything about it.”
“ICE has been very cooperative with us,” Barletta said. “They really have been; they’ve come every time we’ve called. So, we’re working with ICE to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
However, Barletta reiterated his support for a legislative proposal to allow state and local authorities to arrest people on immigration violations in some instances – a proposal discussed in Congress and supported by Pennsylvania Superior Court Justice Corry Stevens.
“I do believe the federal government needs help from state and local authorities in dealing with the 20 million illegal aliens in this country,” Barletta said
“But in our case, ICE has been very cooperative.”

http://www.standardspeaker.com/index.ph ... 4&Itemid=2

That was a good article Jean, good to know how ICE works. When a program is new miscomunication is easy since everyone is just learning.

However, Ernestine Fobbs of ICE’s Washington office said it wasn’t informed of their arrest until after Perez and Alberto-Perez were released.

Oops.