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Coffee County authorities charged 27 suspected illegal aliens with criminal trespassing after the van they were in was stopped on Interstate 24, but they were later released after the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Department refused to deal with them.

According to his report, Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Blackburn stopped a 1995 GMC van for reckless driving at the 100 eastbound exit on I-24 at 11:39 p.m. Tuesday.

When Blackburn walked up to the vehicle, he discovered the driver did not speak English and had no driver’s license and that there were 26 others of Hispanic nationality packed inside.

None of the men spoke English or were U.S. citizens, the report stated, and all were transported to the Coffee County Jail and charged with criminal trespassing.

Coffee County Jail records show the men were booked at 1 a.m. Wednesday and ranged in age from 18 to 35.

All were placed under $500 bond and were to appear in General Sessions Court Wednesday.

Assistant District Attorney Felicia Walkup said the District Attorney’s Office was given the facts of the situation and “we concluded they’re not guilty of criminal trespassing.”

“There has to be a crime committed,” she said. She added that the immigration officials contacted said they did not want to deal with them, and therefore the Coffee County warrants were recalled, she said.

The men, including the driver with no license, were released about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday to continue their journey to an apparently unknown destination.