Posted on 07/16/2004 3:09:06 AM PDT by Jim Noble
MANCHESTER — U.S. Sens. Judd Gregg and John Sununu want to know why federal immigration officials decided not to step in when New Ipswich police stopped a van carrying nine illegal aliens this week.
New Ipswich Police Chief Garrett Chamberlain said he contacted the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau of the Department of Homeland Security Monday afternoon when a speeding stop led to the discovery of the illegal immigrants from Ecuador.
But ICE officials in New Hampshire and Connecticut both said they were not interested in taking custody. They advised Chamberlain to get identities and other information and release them.
The men told police through an interpreter that they had paid $10,000 each to be smuggled into the U.S. and that they make their living as day laborers in Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. Police cited the van driver for driving after suspension of his license and impounded his car.
Gregg and Sununu, both New Hampshire Republicans, said local police did their job in stopping a speeding vehicle.
But they said they want to hear what happened at ICE, which has taken many responsibilities of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Sununu said the ICE response “was disturbing and clearly unacceptable. It is the responsibility of federal officials to further investigate and prosecute any violation of immigration laws when alerted to possible violations by local and state law enforcement officials.”
While police and congressmen expressed frustration yesterday, a Hispanic leader said she hopes the incident doesn’t whip up anger about immigrants trying to make a new life in the U.S.
Eileen Phinney, founder of the Latin American Center in Manchester, said she hopes the immigrants are not demonized.
“I’m sure a lot of people want to see them hauled away and put into jail,” she said. “Most of them are hard-working, decent people who are trying to become documented and are taking the necessary steps. But it has always taken a long time, and since 9/11 it takes far longer. It’s incredible.”
Police sources said yesterday the ICE response was a common frustration in years leading up to the 9/11 terror attacks.
Plaistow Police Chief Steven Savage, president of the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police, said lately federal responses have been more dependable.
“I would feel very strongly that if a chief in this state calls immigration with questionable immigrants, they need to respond with somebody immediately. How do you know they are Ecuadorians? How do you know they are not from some other country with questionable ties moving through our country for other reasons?” he asked.
Paula Grenier, spokesman for ICE in Boston, said the agency is stretched and handles cases on a priority basis.
“We focus our attention on people with criminal activities . . . In this case there were no criminals, and we were unable to send anybody to process them. It was not a case of refusing or a lack of willingness.”
Grenier said, “We take every case in priority order and were unable to respond to that particular inquiry.”
ICE operates a round-the-clock Law Enforcement Support Center in Vermont to handle calls from police. The LESC Web site says its role is to provide criminal background checks, investigations, special response units and “real-time assistance to law enforcement agencies that are investigating or have arrested foreign-born individuals involved in criminal activity.”
Word about LESC’s role hasn’t spread far among law enforcement.
Chamberlain said he’d never heard of it. Savage said it sounded familiar, but he couldn’t say how he knew about it or when he’d learned it existed. New Hampshire’s deputy safety commissioner, Earl Sweeney, also said he didn’t know anything about it.
“You’d think they’d send out notices to make sure people know,” Sweeney said.
Sgt. Mark Fowke, public information officer for Manchester police, said the city police come in contact with immigrants all the time.
“Unless it’s a repeat offender or criminal offender, they often are released and the case is followed up by one of their people,” he said of ICE. Fowke said the feeling is that if someone has a job, a home and a family, they will stay in the area while ICE does a follow-up.
“If they skip a court date, they’re going into the computer. That will throw up a red flag the next time their name comes up and that will prompt a detention order,” he said.
Chamberlain said he’s planning on sending a full report to the ICE, and to Gregg and Sununu’s offices at their request. But the suspects have gone on their way, he said, and he has no way of knowing how truthful or accurate the information they gave him is.
He said he hopes the publicity will help avoid a repeat.
“With all the requests we have from government regarding heightened awareness, when we do actually successfully apprehend some of these people, we have to kick them loose. It was kind of frustrating, to say the least. Hopefully we’ll get something accomplished.”
Phinney said she hopes the situation does not get blown out of proportion.
When she learned that the Ecuadorians had been released after their interviews, “I said ‘Thank God,’” she said.
“These people do lot of work that no one else wants to do. They are decent, hard-working, honest people,” she said. “I don’t think we have to worry about them. They are trying hard to survive.”
Maybe I am missing something, but isn't it a crime to invade a country?
Most of the people that support the government that these aliens are breaking into are also decent, hard working people, too. Sort of like,"Let him break into your home and take what he wants, because he is a decent hard working citizen in his other life".
I agree with you. If there is such a concern for illegal aliens entering our country the questions should be; Why doesn't our government use the military at our borders and prevent the expansive invasion of our country by illegals? Hmm, is it political? Are votes more important than the protection of our nation (does the word terrorist ring a bell)! Politics is the fine art of dancing to any band whether it be jazz, hip-hop, rock and roll, etc. I am not against immigration but let's do it right!!!
Instead of documenting them, we should be arming them, teaching how to fight, and returning them, so that they can overthrow their shitty little countries
No,we don't want them in jail. Our jails are already filled to capacity by homegrown criminals. We want them deported back from@whence they came and if they want to come here, we want them to apply and come legally.
If they had $10,000 to pay a smuggler, they could have used $5,000 of it to learn English and $1,000 to get here legally. Of course, they probably couldn't get jobs as day labourers in that case, because the dick-wads doing the hiring prefer more exploitable cheaper labor which arrived illegally. And the dick-wads which control our borders prefer to look the other way.
Frankly, since our government has taken little interest in this issue over the course of many presidents, I too have lost interest in correcting this problem other than taxing these people.
ping
There won't be any interest in homeland security until the second or third WTC type event happens.
There won't be any interest in homeland security until the second or third WTC type event happens. It's just human nature and in particular, political nature.
Same here, I am so sick of this issue and the federal government's total unwillingness to confront it. The only thing that will get them up off their butts and start enforcing the law is when Americans take to the streets in protest, and in large numbers, otherwise we can continue to expect the thumb to the nose treatment.
My Irish great grandparents waited in a long line until their name was called. They were hard working , decent people, proved by the fact they did not break the nations law to meet their immediate need.
I am so sick of this I could scream.
Have your senators ever commented or voted against illegal immigration before? If not consider this an election year stunt on their part.
That ICE? The one that was SUPPOSED to do this work on THIS thread...Bush official slammed for stopping illegals sweeps?
OK, the transparency of the fraud that Illegal Infiltrator-pandering is, is now VERY prominent.
JohnHuang2...B4Ranch, wanna send THIS to John & Ken...see what THEY say about it?!
Why don't you and, John and Ken, call Baca's(D-CA) congressional office, to find his opinion also, for the sake of full disclosure.
BTW, Itzlzha, get back to me when your firebrand heroes, John & Ken, have Joe Baca(D-CA) on their show.
they have called Joe Baca, he wont come on.
They were talking about him with Tancredo the other day.
David Drier is in the lead to get sacked in November.
to vote for your So Cal Republican Sacrifice, click here:
http://64.58.187.117/johnandken/sacrifice.aspx
1) We have almost NO illegal immigration here, so this case was remarkable, and an opportunity for thr Senators to address it.
2)Senator Sununu is not up for reelection until 2008.
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