Border Patrol more active in picking up illegals

Local cops call on agents after making arrests

April 15, 2011

By LARRY SHIELDS , Salem News



SALEM - Where do they go from here?

What happens to people who come in contact with law enforcement agencies and are identified as being in the United States illegally, or their status is in question?

Clearly the community and the county have experienced an influx of immigrants looking for better economic opportunities.

Police Chief Bob Floor said there haven't been many of them, but when there were problems with suspected immigration violators in the past, "We had some trouble when we called immigration (Immigration Customs Enforcement)."

That isn't a problem since the U.S. Border Patrol stepped up.

Lt. Don Beeson said the Border Patrol held a seminar in Lisbon for area law enforcement agencies in December to address what was described as a county-wide problem.

Beeson said the border patrol's point was, "You call and we'll come and get them."

"That is our policy now," Floor said.

Perry Township police have recently filed reports noting illegal aliens being sent to the county jail where the "U.S. Border Patrol is going to pick them up."

Floor said here are two border patrol offices available, one in Sandusky and one in Erie, Pa. If the Salem police call the border patrol, Floor said "It will absolutely be on our reports."

If the people are unidentifiable, the reports will, as with any person who can not be identified, list them as John or Jane Doe.

The border patrol operates under the Department of Homeland Security. Border Patrol Agent Robert Signorino said the agency reached out to Columbiana County in December, noting the county was on the outer edge of the Erie area.

Floor said the seminar "was extremely well-received" and, "if we come up with any reason we feel as person might be here illegally, we call the border patrol They are extremely well trained in the Spanish languagep. They interview them at the police station by phone, directly from the police station and they tell us if they'll pick them up."

Signorino, a nine-year agent, explained that when the border patrol receives an agency assist from a city, county sheriff or the highway patrol they respond, sometimes just to translate.

All border patrol agents speak Spanish, he said. "It's mandatory."

The interview determines whether the border patrol picks them up and where, at the police station or the county jail.

Floor said since it's a two-hour drive, and depending on the paperwork, the immigrants are either picked up at the police department or at the county jail.

Signorino said if the interview determines the individual is in the United States legally it must be verified. Someone coming to the U.S. for work can apply under a number of various designations, but "they are here for a specific reason," he said.

"For instance, if it's as a visitor for six months, the person will have an I-94 (Arrival Departure Record Form ) to verify how much time is left. We of know anyone in the U.S. and we can run the information database and find out when they're supposed to leave."

"There are certain things we can do to verify," he said, declining to elaborate. "If the person cannot verify (during a phone interview), we'll go and speak to them," Signorino said. "If they are in the country with documents they must have them on their person at all times. Everyone foreign-born without possession of papers is in violation of federal law," he said, noting it is a misconception that they don't have to have the documents with them at all times.

Signorino said, "If we apprehend it's because we found evidence they are in the U.S. illegally or they admit it ... and say that they should have left. We make the extra effort to verify."

He said that if they are transported to Erie they can speak to their foreign consular office.

"If not, we make sure they have the information to make contact with them," he said.

Signorino said they are fingerprinted and processed at the Erie station with the prints inserted into a criminal and immigration database.

If they are not here legally, the paperwork is processed and the person is turned over to ICE. "Once we process them, we don't house detainees, they're processed into the Erie County jail where they are in the custody of ICE.

"If they're deported, ICE deports them to their country of origin.

"ICE will get them to the judge ... an immigration judge," and detainees have the right to request a hearing and post bond before an immigration judge who, Signorino said, is the one who formally deports them.

The Erie office apprehended 566 people last year, 48 percent were Mexican citizens along with a mix from other countries including, for example, Russia, the Ukraine and Kenya.

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