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Two Illegal Alien Round-ups
EFLN.Kentucky - 76 arrested from home construction company ICE agents detained 76 suspected illegal immigrants, raided the Crestview Hills headquarters of Fischer Homes and arrested four construction site supervisors for the home builder. The four appeared in U.S. District Court in Covington, where they pleaded not guilty and were released from custody on their own recognizance. "This was not a random roundup of illegal aliens," Dean Boyd, spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said. "These were arrests that were conducted as a result of a criminal investigation that has been carefully planned . . . for some time." The four construction site supervisors - Timothy Copsy, Doug Witt, William Allison and Bill Ring - are each charged with harboring illegal aliens for commercial advantage or private financial gain. The maximum possible punishment for the charge is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The 76 suspected illegal immigrants remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service on Tuesday night. Each is charged with entering the country illegally, a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail. U.S. Marshal John Schickel said 66 were being held at the Boone County jail in Burlington and 10 at the Grant County jail in Williamstown. Boyd said the suspected illegal aliens were working as laborers at three Fischer Homes developments in Hebron, Union and Florence. A representative for Fischer Homes released a written statement as local, state and federal law-enforcement officials, including the IRS, were seen coming and going from the building. "Fischer Homes utilizes a rigorous screening process for all of its employees, including citizenship verification," Fischer Homes president Robert Hawksley wrote. "We require all subcontractors to sign a document promising they will use no illegal aliens as employees. Fischer Homes does not, in any way, condone the hiring or use of illegal immigrants." Boyd said the case was initiated more than a year ago and was not in response to the public protests in connection with the immigration debate on Capitol Hill. "On the national level, we are really stepping up our efforts to investigate illegal employment schemes," he said. "Expect more investigations like this. We are bringing criminal charges against employers, seizing assets and using all the tools at our disposal to target employers who are illegally hiring, harboring or laundering the proceeds of those schemes." Ariz. Posse to Round Up Illegal Immigrants The four Mexican immigrants had been on their way to build a dairy farm in this town about an hour southwest of Phoenix. But after a traffic stop for a faulty brake light, members of a sheriff's task force targeting human and drug smugglers found they were not U.S. citizens. Now they were bound for federal custody. Beginning Wednesday, more illegal immigrants coming through Maricopa County could meet the same fate as the sheriff's department beefs up its efforts to find illegal immigrants. A 250-member posse that will operate similarly to the anti-smuggler task force will patrol the area for illegal immigrants who pay smugglers to cross through Arizona, the busiest illegal entry point along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. The posse will be made up of existing sheriff's deputies and members of the department's 3,000-member posse reserve of trained, unpaid volunteers. The four illegal immigrants pulled over Monday will be turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and sent back to Mexico. But those that are captured by the posse may end up in jail, charged under a state law that has been used against more than 100 illegal immigrants in Maricopa County this year. The law made human smuggling a state crime in Arizona - it was already a federal crime - allowing local law enforcement agencies to arrest suspected smugglers. It was meant to crack down on smugglers, but under a disputed interpretation, County Attorney Andrew Thomas argues the law can be applied to the smuggled immigrants themselves. Thomas maintains illegal immigrants who pay smugglers to enter the United States are committing conspiracy to smuggle and can therefore be prosecuted under the state law. The sheriff's office began arresting illegal immigrants under that interpretation in March, and with the new posse, will continue doing so by patrolling desert areas and main roadways in the southwestern part of the county. It remains to be seen whether a judge will uphold the smuggling law as applicable to illegal immigrants. Lawyers for some arrested illegal immigrants have filed motions to have the charges dismissed. A Los Angeles attorney brought into the case by the Mexican Consul General's Office in Phoenix filed another motion claiming Thomas and Arpaio are violating state and federal law and are using the conspiracy charges to control illegal immigration, which is the federal government's job. Posted by: trailing wife 2006-05-10 |
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