Thread: U.S. immigration policy prompts feds to release ‘OTMsÃ

http://www.marfatx.com/bb_index.asp


By JAMES BAE
PRESIDIO COUNTY – Seven Guatemalan nationals were stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents on Wednesday, and each given summons to appear before a Federal Immigration Court in El Paso, date to be determined.

Four of the nationals were in Presidio, three were in Marfa, said Marfa Border Patrol Sector Public Affairs Officer Bill Brooks.

“In accordance to U.S. law, we had to release them on their own recognizance,� Brooks said. “If they were criminals, we would have kept them.�

Unlike Mexican nationals, the Guatemalans are considered OTM’s, or Other than Mexicans according to U.S. Immigration laws. With a lack of budgetary means to deport all non-Mexican illegal aliens back to their respective homelands, there’s been a recent surge in OTM’s entering into national borders. An AP story reported a 137 percent increase of OTM’s entering the U.S. by July of this year, or about 58,000 more than from the year leading up to the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

Brooks said that OTM’s, however, are a rare occurrence in Presidio County.

“We normally have very few OTM’s that cross here,� Brooks said. “I’ll bet it’s single digits this year, if any. We normally apprehend OTM’s in our inland areas, like Amarillo, Lubbock, Midland, and in Sierra Blanca.�

Presidio City Administrator Cindi Clarke received a phone call from the agents telling of the Guatemalans dropped off in Presidio.

“This is the first time I’m aware of the OTM policy,� she said. “I’m assuming this is going to be happening more and more. Other cities have more of an influx, but we should be expecting this to happen again.�

“The last I heard, these guys were hitchhiking to Marfa, to look for jobs at the (Village Farms) tomato factory,� Clarke added.

I don't know how this can be.

Didn't that lying pile of crap Chertoff say just last month that the catch and release policy for OTMs was over.?