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ICE agents take illegal immigrants into custody from Springdale work site
BY TRISH HOLLENBECK Northwest Arkansas Times

Posted on Thursday, July 20, 2006


U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took several illegal immigrants into custody Tuesday at a construction site in Springdale, an ICE spokesman said Wednesday.

Agents took into custody 27 people — 25 from Mexico and two from Guatemala, said Temple Black, spokesman for the agency in New Orleans.

Black would not say where the construction site was located nor what company the immigrants worked for.

Most of the illegal immigrants are being detained in the Washington County Jail in Fayetteville, said Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder.

Those taken into custody will be detained while their backgrounds are checked, Black said. Any who have felony convictions or who are alleged repeat immigration offenders will be referred to the U. S. Attorney’s Office for prosecution and / or deportation, he said, while the remainder will be given a notice to report to federal immigration court.

While Black said he did not have details about what prompted the action, he added that ICE — an investigative arm of the U. S. Department of Homeland Security — works closely with local police and sheriff’s officers on these matters.

Twenty-five of the people who were taken into custody — 24 men and one woman — are being temporarily detained in the Washington County Jail, Helder said.

The jail has a contract with the federal government to hold detainees as long as there is space, he said, adding that the county jail census was 407 as of midnight Tuesday. The jail has a capacity of 575.