CO-Immigration unit arresting hundreds of illegal immigrants
Immigration unit arresting hundreds of illegal immigrants
State Patrol says new task force is paying off
by Ernie Bjorkman, News2
July 22, 2008
DENVER (KWGN) — State troopers arrested 8 immigrants during a traffic stop on I-70 in Lincoln County Tuesday night. All of the immigrants are from Mexico.
It's the latest bust by a special team of troopers dedicated to finding human smugglers going through Colorado.
Within the last year, the special team has detained almost 800 illegal immigrants and taken 40 cases of human trafficking to court.
They also say they've taken some really nasty criminals off our streets.
"Through the 1st year of operation, we've arrested 19 aggravated felons," says Trooper John Hahn. "These are individuals who have previously been convicted of felonies and returned to the United States."
Add those numbers to those around the country and specialized teams like this one are having an impact.
"Law enforcement agencies have arrested 60,000 people under this program," says Carl Rusnok of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The federal government has given these troopers the power to arrest illegal immigrants. but the team makes it perfectly clear, it does this during routine patrols and is not racially profiling anyone.
In fact, the 8 illegal immigrants arrested Tuesday were found through a routine traffic stop. The trooper pulled the minivan over for having expired Arizona license plates.
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