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Border patrol agents take custody of 13 illegal aliens who stopped in Valley
Published: Sun, August 7, 2011 @ 5:54 p.m.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
skolnick@vindy.com
NORTH LIMA
Thirteen illegal aliens from Mexico, Cuba and Honduras found at a Beaver Township gas station are in the custody of border patrol agents in Erie, Pa.
Beaver police were called to the Pilot gas station on Market Street about 6:30 p.m. Saturday by a truck driver who was “very upsetâ€
Border Patrol Investigation Update
Updated: 8/07 11:53 pm
New information about the 19 people, suspected of being illegal immigrants, who were taken into custody Saturday night in Beaver Township.
Police tell us that 13 people remain in the custody of U.S. Boarder Patrol.
Calls to the agency tonight were not returned.
On Saturday, police received a call about a bus and two trucks at the Pilot Service Station on Market Street in North Lima. When they arrived, they found most of the people were undocumented.
We called the number on the back of the bus. A man who identified himself as Margarito Martinez told us he's a farm and labor contractor out of Florida. He says the workers were traveling from a job in Michigan heading to Delaware.
He says his business is licensed and insured and he hired the workers believing they had legal status to work in the United States.
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Police: 13 of 19 Arrested Had No Documentation
Updated: 8/08 8:34 pm
Beaver Township police apprehended a group of suspected illegal immigrants over the weekend.
According to U.S. Border Patrol Agents at the Erie Station, 500 undocumented individuals were caught in the region last year. But this most recent case is not a typical bust for our area.
On Saturday evening, Beaver Township Police responded to the Pilot Service Station on Market Street in North Lima. Several semi truck drivers complained a bus and two other trucks blocked in their vehicles.
"They went to investigate and when they got there, they encountered several individuals that didn't speak English, didn't have any documentation whatsoever," said U.S. Border Patrol agent Edward Signorino in a telephone interview on Monday.
What made this case somewhat unique is the actual number of suspected illegal immigrants. Out of the 19 people taken into custody by Beaver Township Police, border patrol agents found that 13 of them had no documentation. That included no state-issued ID's, drivers licenses, or passports.
Beaver Township Police Officers are trained to deal with undocumented immigrants. However, they typically encounter one or two at a time during routine traffic stops.
"We just recently arrested some Chinese nationals with counterfit property. In the past, when we had a mushroom farm here, we used to come in contact with illegals more often," said Beaver Township Police Chief Carl Frost.
The 13 individuals, mostly from Mexico, Cuba, and Honduras, were traveling along Interstate 80 from Michigan to Delaware. Depending upon their records with U.S. Immigrations and Customs, they will either face an immigration judge or felony charges if they were already deported.
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