ICE: 12 migrants who fled into marsh were in country illegally, on their way to famil
ICE: 12 migrants who fled into marsh were in country illegally, on their way to family
Adam Duvernay, Delaware News Journal Published 10:36 a.m. ET May 14, 2019 | Updated 11:18 a.m. ET May 14, 2019
A five-times deported man whose December traffic stop led to a hunt for migrants in a marsh near Minquadale was dropping off 11 people, who were in the country illegally, with relatives, according to an immigration enforcement criminal complaint.
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's complaint charges Andres Andres-Juan with transporting immigrants in the country illegally during a three-day trek across the country, which ended on I-295 south in December 2018. The complaint said he was bringing the migrants from New Mexico.
Andres-Juan is a Guatemalan national who has been deported five times since 2002, the complaint said. He most recently was deported in October 2018 and then reentered the country by walking over the Mexican border with a human smuggler, the complaint said.
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A Delaware River and Bay Authority spokesman said 12 people bailed out of a car on the interstate in 2018 during a traffic stop. They fled into the marsh but were arrested. (Photo: John Jankowski)
Andres-Juan has two prior convictions for illegal reentry, according to the complaint.
A Delaware River and Bay Authority officer pulled over a Toyota Sequoia with expired, restrictive, out-of-state tags around 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 5. As the officer spoke with Andres-Juan, he and the other 11 people in the SUV ran into the nearby wooded area.
Adrian Smith, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Philadelphia, which has jurisdiction over Delaware, said an investigation concluded the people in the SUV are residents of Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.
All were caught with aid from a state police helicopter, and the 10 adults were charged with resisting arrest.
ICE agents lodged immigration detainers against all those arrested except for the two children. Such detainers ask local authorities to hold foreign nationals for additional time so ICE can interview them with the possibility of deportation proceedings to follow.
The children were released to family members.
On the dashboard of the SUV, police found nearly $1,600 inside a wallet depicting St. Jude, the patron saint of lost and desperate causes, according to the complaint.
The complaint said one of Andres-Juan's passengers — also a previous deportee — stayed in a New Mexico house for a month before being picked up. The passenger told investigators they traveled across the country for three days, during which time Andres-Juan paid for food and gas and that he was the "person in-charge of the trip."
https://www.delawareonline.com/story...ly/3664159002/
