Thread: RI:4 Brazilians held as illegal immigrants

4 Brazilians held as illegal immigrants

01:00 AM EDT on Friday, July 11, 2008

By Katie Mulvaney

Journal Staff Writer

NORTH KINGSTOWN — Four Brazilian men are in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and will be deported after they were found to be illegal immigrants following a state police traffic stop this week, according to ICE.

State Trooper John Tondre stopped a van around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, after it ran a red light on Route 4 south at West Allenton Road, Maj. Steven G. O’Donnell said.

The driver could not produce a license, and none of the other seven men in the van had valid licenses, O’Donnell said. The men were taken to the state police barracks in Wickford after they told Tondre they were in the country illegally, he said.

An electronic query sent to ICE by state police revealed there was a deportation warrant out on one, said Paula Grenier, ICE spokeswoman. A check of identification of others in the van showed warrants for three additional men as well, she said.

The deportation warrants issued by a judge are not based on criminal charges, but because they were “in the country without authorization,â€

It's ICE time for a raid on the Gilbane Development Co. project.