Border patrol officials declined comment on the case Saturday, referring
22 illegal aliens detained after Oswego County stop
Sunday, September 30, 2007By Jim O'Hara Staff writer
Twenty-two people from Mexico and Guatemala were detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents after the farm bus in which they were riding was stopped at a DWI checkpoint in Oswego County.

State police reported the bus, owned by Zappala Farms in Fulton, was stopped about 9:25 p.m. Friday at the checkpoint on Route 3 in Granby. Agents from the U.S. Border Patrol determined during questioning that there were 22 illegal aliens on the bus.

They were all taken into custody without incident and transported to the U.S. Border Patrol station in Oswego for processing
questions to officials at headquarters in Buffalo.

Owners of Zappala Farms could not be reached for comment.

It's the second incident this year involving farmworkers associated with Zappala Farms being taken into custody by federal officials.

On May 23, immigration officials searching for a fugitive stopped a van in Granby and arrested 16 farmworkers they said were in the country illegally. When officials took those workers to the Zappala farm to collect their belongings, agents found six more illegal aliens.

The farm's owners claimed they had followed all of the Department of Labor's requirements in hiring those workers.
http://www.syracuse.com/articles/news/i ... xml&coll=1