Thread: VA-ICE mum on use of office in Salem

Saturday, March 21, 2009
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement mum on use of office in Salem

The Homeland Security agency would not say why it is preparing offices and holding cells.
By Pete Dybdahl


An investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security is planning an office in Salem, according to records filed with the city's building department.

Renovations for a proposed office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have started on a one-story cinder block building at the corner of West Main and Academy streets.

Construction drawings indicate the 6,300-square-foot office will include interview and conference rooms, workstations and what appear to be four holding rooms -- including one marked "seclusion" on the plans.

"I can tell you it's going to be office space for the Department of Homeland Security," said Arthur Cournoyer, the building's owner, who declined to elaborate about his tenant.

Officials with ICE did not confirm the group's Salem plans Friday evening.

The enforcement agency currently has several field offices in Virginia, including one in Roanoke.

It was unclear if the Salem office would be a new facility or the relocation of another office.

ICE is a wide-reaching public-safety organization that targets criminal and terrorist networks, according to its Web site. The group has five operational divisions that are designed to protect vulnerabilities in the country's border and financial security, among other areas.

But on Friday, questions surrounded what the exact function of a local ICE office would be.

Salem officials said they had not been contacted about the agency, despite inquiring with Homeland Security beginning last summer about an office. Their first glimpse of the plans came Friday when they pulled the renovation drawings, which were filed last month, from the building department.

The design suggested that growing rumors of a large-scale detention center for illegal immigrants were unlikely to be true.

The four holding rooms -- marked male, female, juvenile and seclusion on the drawings -- make up only a portion of the office space. Each room includes a toilet, according to the plans, but does not appear to be equipped for overnight stays.

Nationally, immigration charges accounted for more than one-quarter of convictions in federal courts last year, ranking only behind drugs in number of cases, according to figures from the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

In the Western District of Virginia, immigration is a much smaller issue. But when cases do arise, the distance to ICE detention facilities elsewhere in the state is a complication, police and federal prosecutors have said.



http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/198518

Quote:

Nationally, immigration charges accounted for more than one-quarter of convictions in federal courts last year, ranking only behind drugs in number of cases, according to figures from the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

$$$

But on Friday, questions surrounded what the exact function of a local ICE office would be


Why?

Why should ANY questions surround the scope and intent of an ICE facility?

If you are in this country illegally, you can expect to be.....at any time.....arrested, detained and deported. End of story.

Just wonder if all the workers renovating this building are legal?

Originally Posted by vortex

Just wonder if all the workers renovating this building are legal?

LOL.....now wouldn't that be a trip if they weren't?

But since there was no need felt to protect American workers through use of e-verify and obama/napolitano have essentially brought all enforcement of immigration law to a screeching halt, the sad part is that illegals are probably holding some of those jobs