Immigration Agents Have to Prioritize
Last updated Tuesday, October 31, 2006 9:02 PM CST in News
By Lori Harrison-Stone
THE MORNING NEWS
ROGERS -- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would like to come running every time an illegal immigrant turns up, but there are only six agents covering 24 counties in this part of the state.
Rod Reyes, the resident agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Tuesday that his office is interested any time an illegal immigrant is arrested and often places an "administrative" hold on such immigrants in county jails that will kick in when release is pending. The agency has to concentrate on the worst offenders, but is interested in them all, he said.
The federal agency actually deported Jose Mora back in 2000 after he was picked up and charged with a misdemeanor then, although Benton County Jail records indicate that he wasn't turned over to the federal agency.
Mora "went home, but came back," said Temple Black, spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Both Jose Mora and his brother, Ricardo Mora, are now in the Benton County Jail on felony drug charges. They were subjects of an undercover drug investigation that resulted in a raid at Jose Mora's Rogers home at 703 E. Mimosa Place on Oct. 20. A Rogers police detective was shot during the raid in what appears to be the accidental discharge of a Benton County sheriff's deputy's weapon.
Black said the agency has a hold on both brothers and on Carlos Vega, 33, who was also arrested following the recent undercover drug investigation in Rogers. But Benton County Jail records did not indicate a hold on Ricardo Mora for Immigration as of late Tuesday evening.
Maria Ayon-Torres, 31, who also was listed as living at 703 E. Mimosa Place, has already been removed and returned to her home in Mexico, Black said. She wasn't charged after the investigation or the shooting.
Reyes said his agents were in Benton County by midnight following the shooting Oct. 20 to interview the Mora brothers, Vega and Ayon-Torres.
The shooting and other crime-related incidents involving illegal immigrants have led Rogers Mayor Steve Womack to propose a city law that will involve fines on businesses employing illegal immigrants and on landlords renting to them. The Rogers City Council is set to consider the proposal at its Nov. 14 meeting. Womack's concerned the federal government isn't doing enough to curb the influx of illegal immigrants and doesn't like the amount of local crime that involves illegal immigrants.
For Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to get involved, they've got to be contacted, Reyes said. Sometimes, the agency isn't contacted or is contacted after the person in question has been released, but Reyes said it's not true that it only steps in when there's more than one illegal immigrant involved or only when a crime has been committed. If they're here illegally, they've committed a crime, but they may never come to the agency's attention, Reyes said.
The federal agents can check a name and have access to national databases on immigrants that local police departments and county sheriff's offices don't have, he said.
And, Reyes said, the agency is doing just that on the local front, working closely with city, county and state police agencies, in addition to working with other federal law enforcement agencies. Local law enforcement officers often bring suspected illegals to the Fayetteville office to enter their fingerprints on an automated identification system the federal agency uses, he said.
One of the two agents assigned to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Fayetteville worked more than 130 illegal immigrant investigations this year, Reyes said.
"We're a small but very productive office," he said, noting that each investigation includes a number of checks to make sure all possible information is tracked down.
The office also investigates marriage fraud cases, workplace immigration issues and accusations of customs fraud, in addition to working with other federal agencies on other federal crimes.
Reyes admits his agents can't immediately respond to every incident involving an illegal immigrant and have to judge "the urgency" of each case.
"We want to allow for state authority to follow through on all the prosecutions they can first," Reyes said, adding that the agency detains illegals "on paper" and then takes custody when they've served time for the local crime or it's dismissed.
Black said the agency had 21 detainees held at the Benton County Jail in October and 16 in the Washington County Detention Center, in addition to four more illegal immigrants held for the agency by the U.S. Marshals Service.
The Department of Homeland Security estimated that unauthorized immigrants in the United States increased from 8.5 million in January 2000 to 10.5 million in January 2005, with an estimated annual increase of 408,000 per year, according to a report on the issue released by the department in August.
The Morning News' Melissa Blakely contributed to this article.
AT A GLANCE
No Charges Expected
The Arkansas State Police do not expect to file any criminal charges in the Oct. 20 shooting of a Rogers police detective.
State Police Special Agent Chad Hipps said Tuesday that his investigation of the incident should be complete early next week, but he doesn't anticipate that there will be any criminal charges filed. He declined to provide additional information about the pending investigation.
A Benton County sheriff's deputy, who hasn't been identified, drew his gun during a struggle with a woman at 703 E. Mimosa Place in Rogers on Oct. 20. The gun reportedly went off when a woman grabbed the deputy's arm. Rogers Detective Brian Culpepper was wounded in the leg.
Culpepper spent 11 days in the intensive care unit at St. Mary's Hospital and was released Tuesday to continue recuperating at home, said Lt. Mike Johnson of the Rogers Police Department.
Source: Staff Report
The Issue
Posting Bond
It seems risky, but illegal immigrants are sometimes allowed to post bond when they get in trouble.
Kurt Clark, owner of Action Bail Bonds, said he will post bail for an illegal immigrant in jail depending on the case.
"Depends on (their) ties to the community and how long they've been here," Clark said.
It also makes a difference if they have a family member or friend who can cover the collateral on a bond, he said.
Inmates must have a legitimate Social Security number for a bonding agent to track them after they have been released. Clark said that, if his company finds out someone used a false Social Security number, his staff will notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the jail that allowed them to post bond.
Bernice Baber, a bonding agent with Bryce's Bail Bonding, Inc., said Bryce's Bail Bonding Inc. and JE Bonding Inc. will not post bail for any illegal immigrants.
"There's no way to track (them) without a Social Security number," Baber said.
She said they may bond someone out who just has a Residence Card, but it's at their discretion who they write a bond for.
"We will not write the bond if it doesn't meet our criteria," she said.
Barber said that sometimes bonding agents don't know until they get to the jail that the inmate is an illegal immigrant.
Source: Staff Report
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Ozarks wrote on Nov 1, 2006 7:34 AM:
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