Posted on 06/24/2005 6:03:06 AM PDT by mountaineer
The five allegedly illegal aliens arrested earlier this week appealed directly to Ohio County Sheriff Tom Burgoyne on Thursday morning for release of their vehicle.
Burgoyne said the five went to his residence Thursday morning - one day after they were released from custody of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and two days after they were arrested by Ohio County Sheriff's deputies as alleged illegal aliens. Burgoyne, who was at home, turned the five away because they had no documents proving their claim to the gold Honda in which they were found early Tuesday.
Burgoyne said the five are among 32 allegedly illegal aliens arrested in Ohio County in the past month.
Burgoyne, who spent 33 years with the FBI, said he plans to meet with INS officials in Pittsburgh in the near future. The plans come after an INS agent expressed frustration with deputies in West Virginia, whom he said continue to arrest illegal aliens, according to sheriff's department reports.
Efforts to reach an INS spokesman in Pittsburgh for comment were unsuccessful Thursday.
Burgoyne said he hadn't seen the report on the arrests of the five Mexican nationals when they arrived at his residence Thursday morning and quickly contacted Chief Deputy Pat Butler on the matter.
The men, who said they lived in North Carolina and were on their way to California when they were arrested, had documents in their possession indicating they were released and had a January 2006 hearing scheduled in federal court in Pittsburgh, Burgoyne said.
The hearing would determine whether they were in the United States illegally.
"We were able to determine they got here from Pittsburgh by taxi," Burgoyne said. After their release, the men found a restaurant owner who told them to take a taxi to Wheeling to try to get their car returned, Burgoyne said.
They first went to the sheriff's department seeking Burgoyne, but when he was not at the office they went to his residence, he said.
The restaurant owner, reached by telephone, helped Burgoyne communicate with the men, who said they knew no English. ...
All five occupants, all Hispanic males, told the deputies they couldn't speak English. Asked for identification, the driver provided deputies with his driver's license for the Mexican state of Acapulco.
Bise, who was working at sheriff's department headquarters, spoke with all five males in Spanish by telephone. He told the deputies on the scene all five admitted being in the United States illegally.
When deputies contacted INS Agent Rod Berry in Pittsburgh, he said he wasn't authorized to detain the individuals unless given approval from his office.
Berry told the deputies if the sheriff's department detained the five men, Ohio County would be responsible for the jail bill for their housing, reports indicate.
Deputies reported Berry was "not cooperative." Berry, they reported, said "it was becoming a problem for his budget that West Virginia deputy sheriffs wanted to detain illegal immigrants."
Berry told deputies to contact the INS Law Enforcement Support Center. From there, Bise was referred to a special agent, who was identified only by the last name of Dormer.
He told deputies they observed proper protocol and the men should be detained pending further investigation by INS officials. ...
I hear that all the time and it's just not true.
First, there is no such thing as an ICE inspector and second, the movie completely distorts the truth.
My bad on the position...
And the truth distortion was my second point.
No more than that.
Maybe they had an illegal abridged copy – or they just can’t read.
Seems the INS has been infiltrated, whether by terrorists, drug cartels, and/or other criminal groups.
Everyone here has it all wrong.
The INS is doing an EXCELLENT job.
The job the INS is doing is exactly what George W. Bush wants it to do.
Absolutely NOTHING !
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