Thread: Illegal immigrants nabbed

January 19, 2008


Illegal immigrants nabbed

Special task force apprehends 160 along stretch of I-20

Ana Radelat
Clarion-Ledger Washington Bureau

A special Border Patrol task force has apprehended 160 illegal immigrants in the first three days of an operation patrolling I-20 from Vicksburg to Jackson.

Operation Uniforce has targeted the interstate because federal agents believe it is a new corridor for smugglers, who also use I-10 to ferry undocumented workers from the Mexican border to employers on the East Coast.

Border Patrol spokesman Ramon Rivera said many of the apprehended immigrants were headed for North Carolina and Florida.

According to a Border Patrol report on Operation Uniforce, greater scrutiny of I-10 by federal agents has prompted some smugglers to use I-20.

Similar Border Patrol operations were conducted last year along I-10 in Baton Rouge and Mobile, resulting in hundreds of deportations and detentions.

About 40 Border Patrol agents, including 12 from the agency's Gulfport office, are involved in the Mississippi operation, which began Jan. 13 and is scheduled to continue until Jan. 26.

"Apprehension statistics indicate that January-March are the busiest months for illegal entry along the Southwest border," the Border Patrol report said.

Most of the 160 undocumented immigrants apprehended in the first three days of the sweep were Mexican nationals. But two - an Egyptian and a Palestinian from the West Bank - were from "special interest" countries.

"They're doing a good job," 2nd District Rep. Bennie Thompson, who represents the targeted area, said of the Border Patrol.

Thompson, a Democrat and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said it is obvious the Border Patrol received accurate intelligence about the routes that human traffickers are using.

"They were absolutely on track," he said.

Thompson also said the Border Patrol effort is receiving help from local law enforcement agencies, including the sheriffs' departments in Hinds and Warren counties. He said the need to pull Border Patrol agents from several states to conduct the operation shows the agency remains understaffed.

The apprehended immigrants, with one exception, are being sent to a federal detention center in Oakdale, La. The exception is a detainee from El Salvador, who was sent to Chicago, where he's wanted for murder.

The Border Patrol is focusing on vans and small buses. Agents stopped vehicles from companies whose vehicles have been involved in smuggling before. In the first three days of the operation, agents interviewed 15 bus and van drivers and seized eight vehicles.

"We run license plates, and if there's a link to smugglers, that gives us reason to stop and question the driver," Border Patrol spokeswoman Andrea Zortman said.

Border Patrol agents seized $7,052 from one driver but did not find any drugs in any of the vehicles they stopped, the agency report said. It did not specify why the money was seized.

In response to pressure from lawmakers and the public, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has stepped up detentions and deportations of undocumented immigrants. Last year, the agency arrested more than 35,000 illegal immigrants, more than double the number in 2006. It also deported a record number - nearly 280,000.

www.clarionledger.com

The Border Patrol is focusing on vans and small buses. Agents stopped vehicles from companies whose vehicles have been involved in smuggling before.

They need to stop the larger bus lines too (The ones with non-traditional names)! We have regular bus traffic arriving here locally where quite a few presumably illegal aliens daily hop off the bus into waiting vans and SUV's and scurry away. Odd thing is no one EVER gets on the buses to leave...I imagine this is going on in every city and town in NC after reading all the stories of illegals heading north.

Until a few days ago I wondered where the heck all these people were ending up. That was before a local slumlord in the area had his HUD tenants move out and upon inspecting the premises found eleven sleeping bags in the crawl space beneath his rental property. Another report I received yesterday was about yet another local HUD tenant who relocated to Mexico (yeah, right) and decided to take the copper plumbing from the rental and the empty house next door with them.

Sadly, these stories never seem to end up in the local paper.

Border Patrol Arrests 200 Illegal Immigrants

POSTED: 6:46 am CST January 20, 2008
UPDATED: 7:24 am CST January 20, 2008


Federal agents say they've arrested more than 200 illegal immigrants over the past week including a murder suspect wanted in El Salvador.

The Border Patrol’s Operation Uniforce has been targeting the smuggling of illegal immigrants along I-20. The Border Patrol said most illegal immigrants enter the U.S. through the Southwestern border headed to the East Coast.

The Border Patrol said most of the illegal immigrants are from Mexico. Operation Uniforce continues through the weekend.

http://www.wapt.com/news/15097343/detail.html