Illegal Immigrant Turns Himself In
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Illegal Immigrant Turns Himself In
POSTED: 12:17 pm EDT August 3, 2006
UPDATED: 12:19 pm EDT August 3, 2006
Another illegal immigrant is in police custody, but unlike previous cases, the man turned himself in and asked to be sent back to Mexico.
"This guy said he wanted to go back to Mexico. He's been in Indiana picking watermelons is what he told me, and he wanted to go home," said Ohio County Deputy Sheriff Alex Espejo.
But police said 21-year-old Fernando Lopez Diaz changed his story after he was handcuffed. Diaz then told police he was in the country legally, which police later determined to be untrue.
Police said Diaz has been in the U.S. for about a year and was hitchhiking across the states from Indiana. Police said Diaz was riding with a trucker, but when he ran out of money, the trucker dropped him off at a truck stop in Dallas Pike around 8 a.m. Thursday.
Diaz spoke little to no English, other than saying, "Call police." Two deputies from the sheriff's department, one who was able to translate, picked him up and contacted Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Diaz will remain at the Northern Regional jail until federal officials arrive.
Ohio County law enforcement officials have detained more than 80 illegal immigrants this year alone.
-Renee Cardelli & Jackie Cain, NEWS9
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