Man from Mexico being deported after month in county jail
Inmate first held on traffic charges
By LINDA MARTZ • News Journal • May 30, 2009

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MANSFIELD -- A 25-year-old man will be deported to Mexico next week after a month of being held in legal limbo in the Richland County Jail.


U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Friday that Jose Fidel Reyes, 25, will be picked up Monday.

Paperwork at the jail shows Ontario police notified the federal agency April 28 that Reyes was in custody for no operator's license and no working headlights. The jail had two release orders related to the original traffic charges, but Reyes was held on a detainer from Immigration, according to Richland County sheriff's Maj. Roger Paxton.

The inmate's status was "not bondable" because of the federal hold.

Reyes' wife and family in Galion contacted attorney Robert H. Whitney, who filed papers in Common Pleas Court on Tuesday, seeking a hearing on the matter.

"What we're challenging is that he has been held in jail for weeks on a supposed holder from immigration without due process of law," Whitney said. "He's just sitting there in jail. Somebody needs to do something about it. He's just locked up in jail, with no information about why he's there."

An automated jail system listed Reyes' original traffic case in Shelby Municipal Court. Neither the Shelby nor Ontario clerk of courts had any record of a recent arrest or court proceeding involving Reyes. Officials said that scenario is possible if pending criminal charges get dropped to deal with larger issues involving immigration.

Illegal immigrants are kept with the general population, Paxton said. Reyes had not created enough of a fuss to come to Paxton's attention.

"I don't know if things got lost in their paperwork at immigration," Paxton said.

lmartz@nncogannett.com

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