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Residents want police, prosecutor to crack down on illegal residents
Father of man killed outside Mason bar wants politicians 'to listen'
By Tiffany Y. Latta

Staff Writer

Thursday, September 14, 2006

HAMILTON TWP. — Bill Barnhill is determined to stop people living in the country illegally from calling Warren County home.

Barnhill's son Kevin was killed in Mason last month and the men accused of the crime had entered the United States without a visa, police said. Now Barnhill is among a dozen residents who have formed Citizens for Legal Communities to discourage people who have entered the county illegally from settling in Warren County.

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Police continue to search for a man wanted in connection with the beating and stabbing death of Barnhill near the Mason Pub. Enrique Torres, 27, of Cincinnati is wanted for complicity to commit murder in the death of Kevin Barnhill.

Humberto Mota, 30, of Mason faces the same charge and is being held at the Warren County Jail with bail set at $1 million.

"I'm on a crusade to get the word out about this increasing problem. I'll do all I can to get politicians to listen, even if it means taking this issue to the Supreme Court,'' Barnhill said.

He and the other residents met Thursday evening with county officials including Sheriff Tom Ariss and Prosecutor Rachel Hutzel to learn what law enforcement officials can do to help.

Hutzel and Ariss said that in the past six months there's been an increase in violent crimes committed by illegal immigrants in Warren County. To help, residents must contact their elected officials and demand stiffer penalties for who commit felonies while living in the United States illegally, Hutzel and Ariss said.

They also said residents must demand that elected federal officials beef up the number of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents that patrol Ohio counties.

"We have no authority to charge them for being illegal. They only thing we can do is charge them for violating laws,'' Ariss said.

Police responded to a call of a man carrying a baseball bat outside the Mason Pub on U.S. 42 on Aug. 26. They could not find the man, but did find Kevin Barnhill, badly beaten behind the building. He died at the scene.

Witnesses told police there was a fight at the bar that spilled out into the parking lot and to the rear of the building where Barnhill was found.

Mota was indicted two weeks ago in Warren County on drug possession charges for cocaine he had when he was booked into the Warren County Jail, officials sai