Thread: Mexican citizens detained while leaving country

What's up with this??

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/state/15924999.htm

Posted on Fri, Nov. 03, 2006

Mexican citizens detained while leaving country

Associated Press

HOUSTON - U.S. immigration officials detained 16 Mexican citizens as they were boarding a Continental flight back to Mexico on Friday morning.

The passengers were stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents after they had already checked in and obtained boarding passes for Flight 424 to Mexico City when they were detained, witnesses and airline officials said.

Customs officials confirmed that 16 people were detained for not having proper documents. They were "scheduled for voluntary departure" Friday night.

The unusual measure of detaining people on their way out of the country, rather than on their way in, raised questions with some Latino community leaders.

"It's ironic that they did it on a flight on its way out to Mexico," said Jose Jimenez, deputy district director of the League of United Latin American Citizens. "Taxpayers now have to pay to deport people who had tickets to get out of the country."

Jimenez said he was told the passengers had been detained because they failed to produce valid I-94 forms, which show the date a traveler entered the United States and the date the visa expires.

Jimenez, who said he contacted officials at the Mexican Consulate in Houston, also wondered why immigration officials targeted an outbound flight to Mexico, rather than those leaving for Europe or Asia or flights entering the country. He said such raids could affect Mexican business travelers or tourists who fly into Houston for commerce or shopping trips.

I've often wondered about that. When people leave the country do they actually check to see when they entered?

I think this is a good thing because now these folks have been officially documented as having been illegally in the country.