http://www.wtov9.com/news/5351278/detail.html
POSTED: 9:28 pm EST November 17, 2005


OHIO COUNTY, WV -- They travel Interstate 70 in search of work, and one van load at a time, police in the Ohio Valley keep rounding them up.

In May Ohio County deputies arrested 14 illegal immigrants on I-70. Through the rest of the summer, they'd pick up 50 more.

Ohio County Sheriff Tom Burgoyne said the problem comes after the arrest.

Burgoyne said, "Admittedly, the standard has been catch and release, just like you catch a fish in the brook and let it go. That's kind of what we're doing with Mexicans or any alien. We catch and release them."

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE, doesn't see it as a release. Although they aren't American citizens, illegal immigrants must be processed like any other suspect when they are arrested.

ICE agent Richard Boronyak explains, "If we can determine that they are wanted, a threat to the community or have some other prior they can be held without bail."

If the immigrant does not have a criminal record, he is released. Boronyak said it is a misconception that immigrants are simply let go. They often get a court date to face charges of being in the country illegally.

Boronyak said, "When you have anybody picked up and let go on his on recognizance, he was not let go, he was let go on a condition and if he violates that condition then a warrant of arrest is probably issued."

The warrants go out when a suspected illegal doesn't show up for his or her court date. Sheriff Burgoyne has been in court with several aliens his office has picked up, and he suspects most of them don't show up for court.

The sheriff recalls a conversation he had with a group of immigrants in court, "I said you're going to be back in court on January 23, 06 to answer the charges and they said si, senor. I'd bet my last dollar they won't be in court on January 23, 06."

Federal officials realize that's happening. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff testified in Congress that 75% of non-Mexican illegals arrested are not deported. Chertoff said that is threatening the country's security.

Chertoff said, "The fact of the matter is people are rightly upset and distressed about the prospect that we don't have control of our borders the way we should, when we apprehend people they end up getting released because we don't have the sufficient ability to remove them."

State officials in Ohio and West Virginia are doing what they can to help local authorities deal with illegal immigrants.West Virginia law is cracking down on employers who hire illegals with hefty fines of up to $500,000. In Ohio, a legislator is working on a proposal that would allow immediate deportation.

Sheriff Burgoyne says that's a good start.

Burgoyne said, "We need to give the local agencies more jurisdictional power in these type cases because we're the ones uncovering them."