Kingsford aliens face deportation
By NIKKI YOUNK, Staff Writer
POSTED: November 8, 2008




BOSTON - Seven fugitive aliens, who were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in Kingsford on Wednesday, are now facing deportation.

Paula Grenier from the ICE public affairs office in Boston said that officials arrested the individuals as part of a larger fugitive operation initiative. Twenty people from nine different countries including Mexico, Albania, China, the Ivory Coast, Somalia, Sweden, Nicaragua, Italy, and Liberia were apprehended in separate cases across the Upper Peninsula this week.

Grenier could not confirm the nationalities or other identifying features of the people arrested in Kingsford at this time.

Currently, some of the fugitive aliens are being held in the Chippewa County Jail in Sault Ste. Marie and some have been released on order of supervision. All will eventually be deported to their home countries.

Grenier explained that these particular individuals had already been warned to leave the country.

"A fugitive alien is an illegal alien whose case has already been before the court system," she said. "They have remained in the U.S. in spite of the judicial decision."

According to an Associated Press article from Chicago, the number of deportations in the Midwest has nearly doubled since 2004. However, some officials wonder if this method is sufficient, since

less than three percent of an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants are deported each year. In some cases, they just keep coming back.

"When someone is deported ... we tell them the consequences," said Sylvia Manno from the ICE field operations in Chicago. "If they choose to come back, it's a choice they are making.")

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