Thread: FL: Illegals face more raids

Illegals face more raids
May 1, 2007
Sheriff: Sweeps of construction sites will continue
By Tony Bridges

The recent immigraton raids will continue, Sheriff Frank McKeithen said Monday.

His deputies have hit at least eight Panama City Beach construction sites during the last month, arresting suspected illegal workers and citing the companies that hired them. McKeithen said the raids come in response to complaints from the public — and have gotten the attention of federal immigration agents.

Senior officials from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Attorney’s Office plan to meet with the sheriff this week. Part of that meeting will focus on getting more help with deportations, McKeithen said.

“We’re still pretty frustrated with the fact that we have so many illegal aliens here in Bay County,” McKeithen said. “Obviously, we’ve scratched our heads on what we could do and what we couldn’t do.

“Instead of complaining about it, we decided we’d just work with what we had.”

Meanwhile, immigration attorney Richard Alvoid said Monday that the sheriff’s campaign won’t accomplish much and could constitute civil rights violations.

“There seems to be no manifested desire on the part of the federal government to enforce the deportation laws,” Alvoid said. “Evidence of that is the 12 million undocumented aliens in this country.

“As far as being equipped to apprehend and deport ... it’s not going to work. Just ascertaining an alien status is extremely difficult.”

The sheriff’s push began April 10 with a raid on a site on Magnolia Beach Drive where deputies arrested about 20 suspected illegals and turned over most of them to ICE. Deputies also gave the project manager a $500 citation for hiring undocumented workers.

McKeithen said he’s been frustrated because the public has been complaining about illegal workers, but immigration officials have been able to do so little. And, the law does not give local law enforcement officers the authority to make arrests just for immigration violations.

Frequently, deputies stop drivers they suspect of being illegal — those without valid licenses or insurance — but have to wait sometimes two hours or more while an Illegal Alien Query is run through federal computers in Virginia.

Even if deputies find an illegal, there are only two ICE agents for this part of the state, McKeithen said.

The News Herald has been trying since October to get information from ICE on how many and what kind of investigations were completed in Bay County last year, first from an agency spokeswoman, then through a Freedom of Information Act request. There’s been little response.

“These guys are absolutely overwhelmed with everything they’re doing, plus illegal aliens,” McKeithen said of the local agents. “We just got to the point where we said, ‘Look, we obviously can’t enforce federal laws, but we can enforce state statutes.’”

That statute — 448.09 — prohibits anyone in the state from knowingly hiring or recruiting undocumented workers. It provides a $500 fine for the first offense and a $500 fine per worker for subsequent offenses.

Using that law, deputies have been collecting public complaints about specific sites, then going to those sites, ostensibly to talk to the project managers about whether they’ve hired any illegals. But when they arrive and workers run, they get arrested.

“When we get to these work sites is when everything erupts,” McKeithen said. “Once they run, we’re trying to determine why they’re running.”

Deputies grab workers, usually charging them with resisting arrest or, if they’re carrying phony ID, then with possession of the forged documents. Those are booked into the Bay County Jail, and the rest are turned over to ICE for processing.

So far, the Sheriff’s Office has hit 10 work sites, finding illegals at eight of them, and have issued $4,000 in citations to employers.

Alvoid, the attorney, said there may be a problem with what deputies are doing. Law enforcement officers need to have probable cause to stop someone suspected of a crime. Simply descending on a work site and arresting those who run — especially since being an undocumented alien is not a criminal violation under state law — may not be enough.

“That is a blatant violation of constitutional rights,” he said.

But as far as McKeithen is concerned, he’s just doing what’s expected of him as the county sheriff. The raids already have increased the number of complaints he receives about suspected illegals at work sites, including 15 over the last weekend alone, he said.

“It’s not hard to ride down the road and see suspected illegal aliens ganged up at a work site,” he said. “We’re reacting to citizen complaints right now.

“The point is, we’ve got to do our part.”

http://www.newsherald.com/headlines/art ... php?a=1160

It is a good start but a $500 fine is too small. They save that in no time when they hire illegals. It should $10,000 per illegal and jail time.
There will be more to come. It their day to march and my day to report various offenders to ICE.

They said there would be more raids and there were.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More Illegal Aliens Working in Bay County Arrested Friday
Illegal Alien Workers Arrested Working Construction at the Bay County Water Treatment Plant

May 4, 2007

The Bay County Sheriff's Office made another sweep for illegal aliens at a local construction site Friday. But, the raid was different. This one happened on county property. And, the bust comes just weeks after Bay County Commissioners toughened their policy on illegal workers.

When sheriff's investigators showed up at the county's Water Treatment Plant at Transmitter Road and Highway 231 some of the workers scattered and started running.

That's because they were in the United State illegally. Deputies eventually arrested 7 of the illegal workers.


Florida law already prohibits companies from hiring illegal aliens for any government project. But, back in March, Bay County Commissioners added an extra penalty. Businesses caught using illegal workers on a county government job will lose their current government contracts.
They'll also be excluded from bidding on future county contracts for at least one year.

But that might not be the case for this violation. Sheriff’s spokesman Ruth Sasser says it appears the contractor isn't at fault. "It appears at this time, although we have taken 7-illegal aliens into custody, that the prime construction company that has a contract here with the county didn't do anything inappropriate."

Sasser says the sub-contractor who hired the men received assurances from a Clearwater company that these men were in the country legally. "It appears right now that a company a leasing company that works for the electrical subcontractor may have given him authority of a handful of workers that were not illegal, told them the were legal to be hired. Apparently he didn't do proper authorization on these people."

None of the companies on-site were ticketed. But, Bay County Commissioner Bill Dozier says it's unclear if the Clearwater leasing company will face penalties. “We are going to make sure we have all the info on this before we jump to any conclusions. There won't be anyone turning their head on this. It's a serious situation and we'll see it all the way through."

The 7 illegal workers were questioned by sheriff's officials then taken to the Bay County Jail.

http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/7346196.html

Deputies eventually arrested 7 of the illegal workers.

Wonder how many there were before they scattered and where they scattered to.

May 5, 2007

Attorneys: Alien sweep illegal
By David Angier

Bay County deputies arrested four people Friday who were working on the expansion of the Bay County Water Treatment facility on Transmitter Road.

Responding to complaints of illegal aliens working for a subcontractor at the site, deputies drove up to the facility at about 9 a.m. and took four people into custody. According to a Sheriff’s Office news release, two of the illegals were arrested for running away when they saw marked police units arriving.

“They were arrested for resisting an officer without violence because they ran away,” said Ruth Sasse, spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office. “They ran when they saw the officers.”

Sasser said she knows arrests such as these are “under contention” by attorneys, who say arrests for running from the police are not legal.

In fact, said attorney James Dowgul, the Sheriff’s Office doesn’t have the authority in the first place to conduct illegal alien sweeps. He said only federal authorities, usually Immigration and Naturalization Services agents, have the ability to determine a person’s legal immigration status.

Dowgul’s law partner, Greg Wilson, said it has been established and repeatedly upheld that simply running from officers is not against the law. He said the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling on that in 2000 and several Florida district courts of appeal have upheld it since.

Wilson said officers must have an arrest warrant or see someone commit a crime before attempting to detain someone, then arrest them if they run. The person, Wilson said, would be arrested on the criminal charge along with resisting arrest by fleeing.

Bay County Spokeswoman Valerie Lovett said the four people arrested Friday were working for a subcontractor of Winter Construction, which is working on an expansion of the water plant. She said the employees were provided to the subcontractor by a leasing agent from Clearwater.

According to the Sheriff’s Office news release, the subcontractor, Crum Services, will not be cited or fined by the Sheriff’s Office because “none of the companies involved had knowingly hired illegals.”

Lovett said the county would investigate to see about enacting “fines or further ramifications against the contractor or subcontractor.”

“We’re going to get to the bottom of this,” she said.

In March, the Bay County Commission unanimously passed a resolution cracking down on companies hiring illegals to do work for the county.

The resolution added language to various county contracts to give the commission the option to terminate the contractor or subcontractor if the business is found to have employed workers in the United States illegally. The commission also has the opportunity to prevent the offending business from bidding on any further county projects for an entire year.

Arrested Friday were: Jose Luis Perez Gutierrez, 43, of 3307 Baldwin Road, on charges of uttering a forged document and no valid driver’s license; Jesus Cuevas Aguilar, 54, no address given, on a charge of resisting an officer without violence; Jose Julian Hernandez, 2120 Harbour Street, Panama City Beach, on a charge of uttering a forged instrument; and Jorge Rosas Acosta, date of birth unknown, a transient, on a charge of resisting an officer without violence.

Gutierrez and Hernandez were in possession of false documents, according to the news release. He stated to a Spanish-speaking investigator that he had purchased the documents in Texas for $2,500. Gutierrez also was driving a company vehicle on site without a driver’s license.

All four were taken to the Bay County Jail. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has been notified, according to the news release.

The arrests caused a short delay in Friday’s work on the expansion, but work had continued by mid-morning.

http://www.newsherald.com/headlines/art ... php?a=1205

Sheriff: Raids are legal
May 6, 2007
By Andy Meinen

Sheriff Frank McKeithen said Saturday he is well within the law in his office’s recent crackdown on companies using undocumented workers.

McKeithen said Florida Statute 448.09 gives him the power to cite contractors who knowingly hire illegal aliens, and he is not conducting illegal immigrant sweeps; rather, he’s targeting the contractors who hire the undocumented workers. In the past few weeks, the Sheriff ’s Office has arrested illegal immigrants at several construction sites in Panama City Beach and at a county expansion project at the water plant.

“We are doing more then just riding down the road looking for illegal aliens,” he said.

The Sheriff’s Office developed information through sources about contractors who hire illegals, but when deputies pull up, many of the workers run.

Two local attorneys argued Friday that law enforcement officers can’t arrest someone for running from them, but McKeithen said it’s not against the law either for deputies to chase and catch someone who runs. McKeithen said that once the workers are caught, they confess to deputies about being in the country illegally.

McKeithen said he takes the illegal aliens to the jail and calls Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, but what happens after that is up to federal authorities.

So far, only illegal aliens have run from deputies, he said.

Other offenses are uncovered when the illegal aliens are questioned. Some have fake IDs, others drive without licenses and a few are wanted on other warrants, McKeithen said.

The sheriff said he knows he is walking a fine line when it comes to federal law and who has authority. Only federal agents can arrest someone for being in the country illegally.

“I know we can’t enforce federal laws,” he said. He added he has never charged someone for being an illegal alien.

The sheriff acknowledged he is pushing the envelope with his recent push on contractors but admits to a certain amount of frustration when trying to curb the amount of illegal immigrants in Bay County.

“We are going to continue doing what we are doing, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll try something different,” he said.

http://www.newsherald.com/headlines/art ... php?a=1226

The police can't charge someone for being an illegal but if they tell you they are you should report them. If there are any messages on the computer when they are run regarding immigration then ICE must be notified. Some messages that come up are expired visa or extridition order.

Just ascertaining an alien status is extremely difficult.”

He said this with a straight face???? It's no more difficult than determing if someone has a driver's license. Legal people don't run or if they do, then they have some other charge against them.

At least they are trying it won't be long before the lawsuit comes, racial profiling you know!

Raid at Construction Site Yields Six Arrests of Illegals

May 10, 2007 - 9:45AM
Information developed by Bay County Sheriff’s Office investigators led to the arrest of six illegal aliens at the Tropical Winds Condominiums construction site on May 8.

When the deputies and investigators of the BCSO and members of the Panama City Beach Police, wearing badges and uniforms clearly identifying them as law enforcement, exited their vehicles a number of subjects began to run.

Based on intelligence gathered about the presence of illegal aliens on the construction site, the fact that individuals were running from law enforcement merely in the investigative process, and experience conducting similar operations, law enforcement pursued the fleeing subjects.

Six individuals were apprehended and were interviewed by a Spanish-speaking investigator. All six men stated to the translator that they were in this country illegally. At this time Illegal Alien Queries are being conducted with the federal government’s ICE database in Virginia to determine and document the illegal status of these men.

Arrested were:

Oscar Osorno Rodriguez, 27, of 1509 Fila Street, Panama City

Noe Gomez Valenzuela, 32, 1509 Fila Street, Panama City

Dimas Pancho Pinal, 31, address unknown

Delfino Castillo, 40, of 325 Placido Place, Panama City Beach

Carlos Casteneda Valenciano, 39, address unknown

Octavio Herrera Martinez, 19, a transient


A run on the copies of social security cards presented by the apprehended suspects revealed several to be not valid and the others as belonging to other people.

All were charged with Resisting an Officer without Violence and investigators are looking into the possibility of charging some of these individuals with Identity Theft.

The construction company was not cited due to the fact they had copies of social security cards presented to them by the suspects and therefore did not knowingly hire illegals to work.

“The more we dig in and investigate, I grow increasingly frustrated at the few resources available to me to deal with the growing problem of illegal aliens in Bay County,â€