Locals, feds to work together on illegal immigration
BY DAVID BELL
Monday, January 1, 2007 9:10 PM MST
Merry Christmas. You're under arrest.
Mohave County Sheriff's deputies apprehended 15 suspected illegal immigrants in the Lake Havasu City area Christmas Day, bringing the total number of illegal aliens taken into custody by the Sheriff's Office to 39 this month.
“In this case, it was actually the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) ranger that found them and called us to assist,” said Sheriff's spokesperson Sandy Edwards.
It's the second time Sheriff's deputies in the Lake Havasu City area apprehended suspected illegal aliens. On Dec. 1, deputies took 17 suspects into custody following a traffic stop on State Route 95 at Industrial Boulevard.
Three other suspected illegal aliens were taken into custody in Mohave Valley on Dec. 19 and four more were arrested in Golden Shores Dec. 6. In each of the cases, the suspects were turned over to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
“We're not doing any extra patrols when it comes to illegal aliens, we're contacting them during the daily course of duties,” Edwards said.
Lake Havasu City Police officers also have found themselves taking custody of a number of illegal aliens. During a July 31 traffic stop, officers discovered six undocumented aliens. Another three were taken into custody following a Sept. 2 traffic stop, and during a Dec. 19 sweep of those wanted on outstanding warrants and those suspected of drug activity in Lake Havasu City, nine suspected illegal aliens were encountered. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took jurisdiction of six and three were turned over to Border Patrol agents.
Lt. Rich Sloma with the Lake Havasu City Police Department said it's not unusual for law enforcement in the area to find illegal immigrants as they travel.
“Highway 95 has always been a corridor for trafficking of illegal immigrants. They come up from Yuma to Interstates 10 and 40 and that will take them pretty much anywhere they want to go,” Sloma said.
In addition to participating in the crime sweep, the ICE agents met with Lake Havasu City Police Chief Dan Doyle and Capt. Joe Fiumara, Mayor Mark Nexsen, City Council member Margaret Nyberg and City Manager Richard Kaffenberger.
“We explored with them the possibility of signing a memorandum of understanding,” said Nexsen.
The MOU would allow ICE to train up to five Lake Havasu City Police officers, giving the local officers the authority to conduct investigations of suspected illegal immigration activity.
“Generally speaking they sign these with Departments of Corrections,” said Nexsen. “We explained that Lake Havasu City can make a good test case on the effectiveness of working with local departments. So they are speaking with their superiors to see if this can move forward. I don't want to speak for ICE, but I got the impression this is something do-able.”
Should the agreement be put in place, Nexsen said training would likely take place in Lake Havasu City. And, Nexsen said, ICE is interested in putting together a work site program, to ensure that workers are legally entitled to be on a job site.
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