Immigrants face deportation
http://www.milforddailynews.com/homepage/x1468163323
By Danielle Ameden, DAILY NEWS STAFF
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Wed Jun 27, 2007, 12:00 AM EDT
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NO DATA - Five local criminal aliens, convicted of offenses such as child molestation, face deportation following a sweep by immigration authorities that netted 36 people in the region, officials said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested "criminal aliens, immigration fugitives and illegal aliens" living in towns including Shrewsbury, Milford, Uxbridge and Whitinsville, according to a press release. The two-week operation, which ended Friday, was designed to remove criminal aliens, fugitives and other immigration law violators from the country.
"It is our job to help protect the public from those who commit crimes," said Bruce E. Chadbourne, Boston field office director of ICE's Detention and Removal Operations Office. "We will continue to fulfill our congressional mandate to apprehend and deport those who are here illegally and who commit crimes that threaten the safety of our neighborhoods."
Two Laotian men living in Uxbridge were arrested for committing crimes that could subject them to deportation, said agency spokeswoman Paula Grenier, who withheld the identities of all those arrested.
One of the Uxbridge men was convicted of indecent assault and battery, while the other was convicted of indecent assault and battery on a child, Grenier said.
Also arrested was a Whitinsville man who hails from Laos and was convicted of second-degree child molestation, Grenier said.
A Brazilian woman from Milford and a Kenyan man living in Shrewsbury were arrested as fugitives, Grenier said. Both were wanted on ICE warrants after they ignored a judge's deportation order, she said.
The arrests were made during a collaborative effort of ICE, Worcester Police and the Worcester and Suffolk county sheriffs' departments, according to the release.
The Worcester County Sheriff's Department lent three investigators and offered intelligence through jail resources to the operation, said Sheriff Guy Glodis' spokesman Kyle Mitchell. The two weeks' work highlighted the strong ties among local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, he said.
"The successful arrest of these individuals rests on the strength of this partnership," Mitchell said, relaying a statement from Glodis yesterday.
While not involved in the recent operation, local police chiefs are calling for a continued crackdown and praising ICE for making the arrests.
"I don't have a problem with them going around and trying to round up these illegal immigrants," said Uxbridge Police Chief Scott Freitas. "Illegal immigration just can't be tolerated."
With two convicted criminals from his town arrested, the chief said it's high time the government start getting illegal aliens off the streets. The group has largely been overlooked in the past, "creating a problem on a couple of angles that people don't want to look at," he said.
Uxbridge Police are seeing some crimes increase with illegal immigration, particularly unlicensed automobile operation charges.
"Something has to be done," Freitas said. "Why are we turning a blind eye? It needs to be enforced and I'm glad that they're doing something."
Focusing on the Worcester area, ICE made arrests in Ashburnham, Fitchburg, Gardner, Leominster, Lowell, Milford, Shrewsbury, Southbridge, Uxbridge, Whitinsville and Worcester.
The people arrested came from Albania, Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Kenya, Laos, Liberia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Uruguay and Thailand, according to the press release.
Most of those arrested by ICE are being detained in Bay State town jails and will face an Immigration Court hearing before deportation, Grenier said.
Those arrested had been convicted of a range of crimes, from motor vehicle offenses to narcotics possession to rape of a child, according to the press release.
Milford Police Chief Thomas O'Loughlin said it is ICE's responsibility to protect the public by enforcing immigration laws and regulations for undocumented residents.
"It's one thing for people to come here illegally," the chief said. "It's another for them to come here and commit crimes."
Danielle Ameden can be reached at 508-634-7521 or dameden@cnc.com.
