Immigration authorities place hold on man jailed in connection with Van Buren runaways

By Rosemary Parker
mlive.com
on October 22, 2013 at 3:12 PM, updated October 22, 2013 at 4:05 PM


Orlando Jimenez

PAW PAW, MI -- The misdemeanor charges filed against Orlando Jimenez, 18, the man accused of harboring two Lawrence teens and driving them to Oceana County last week, may be the least of his worries.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has placed a detainer on Jimenez, who is not a U.S. citizen and is in this country from Mexico illegally, said ICE spokesman Khaalid Walls.

Jimenez was arraigned Oct. 18 in the 7th District Court on two counts of harboring a runaway, and remains in the Van Buren County jail, an officer there said Tuesday. Bond was set at $10,000 cash or surety.

Jimenez is charged in connection with his involvement with Jerica LaShae Springer, 13, and Myra Rodriguez, 14, who left Lawrence High School the morning of Oct. 16 to meet up with him in a local park, according to a news release from the Van Buren County Sheriff's Office. The girls were found Thursday morning, Oct. 17, in a migrant housing unit in Shelby. T hey were unharmed.

Jimenez was arrested in Oceana County on a Van Buren County warrant for two counts of harboring a runaway.

As a condition of his bond Jimenez is to have no contact with Springer or Rodriguez.His pretrial conference is set for 2:45 p.m. on Nov. 12.

Jimenez is currently in the custody of the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office. Following the adjudication of his criminal charges, Jimenez will be turned over to ICE and placed in removal proceedings, Wallis said.

By issuing a detainer, ICE requests that a law enforcement agency notify ICE before releasing an alien and maintain custody of the subject for a period not to exceed 48 hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, to allow ICE to assume custody.

That will happen, too, if Jimenez posts bond before his local charges are adjudicated.

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