Hannibal police voice concerns about role in immigration enforcement

Hannibal, MO — Hannibal police are quelling what they call misconceptions about their role in immigration cases after federal authorities confirmed a murder suspect was in America illegally.
Thirty-two-year-old Manuel G. Cazares is accused of stabbing to death former girlfriend Amanda R. Thomas and Carl Patrick Epley on Feb. 28.
As the Courier-Post first reported on its Web site Monday, questions arose after Hannibal Police Chief Lyndell Davis said Cazares’ immigration status apparently was not checked before his arrest last weekend, even though the suspect had prior run-ins with the department.
On Tuesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Carl Rusnok said Cazares’ name had never been referred to the agency before the murder arrest.
That means Hannibal police would not have known about Cazares’ illegal residency even if they had found probable cause to check the name earlier.
“He wasn’t in the system, so you don’t know if he was legal,â€