To Catch an Illegal Alien, Get on the Bus

Bob Hazen 05/21/2007 06:50:14

Border Patrol agents say the best way to catch illegal aliens in Orlando is to get on the bus.

The Patrol says Orlando is a destination town for aliens looking for work, or a stopping point before they head to Miami. Once they're smuggled over the border into Arizona or Texas, they often take a Greyhound bus to Central Florida. The Patrol regularly visits the station on John Young Parkway and boards every arriving bus to look for illegals.

"Everybody on board the bus is questioned as to their immigration status. We talk to everybody, we don't focus on just one or two people," says Patrol Agent in Charge Robert Gilmore.

If agents decide a passenger is suspicious, they question them further and check for documentation. When they determine one is here illegally, that passenger is detained and taken to a facility in Miami to wait for a status hearing.

The morning WDBO met with the Border Patrol at the Greyhound station, 3 illegal immigrants were captured. Gilmore says the aliens are usually disappointed, but don't fight back.

"You got to understand the majority of these people are here just to make a living. So they come here, they pay several thousand dollars to be smuggled to such areas as Phoenix or Tucson, then from there they board the bus. So when they see border patrol here in Central Florida, they are surprised."

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