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January 15, 2008

Agents take custody of 16 aliens

By Donna Hales

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents moved 16 alleged illegal aliens from Muskogee County/City Detention Facility on Monday.

The 16 men were found in a 2000 Ford Excursion that officers stopped about 2 p.m. Sunday on I-40 near Webbers Falls.

The vehicle was pulled over for speeding and an illegal lane change, said Muskogee County Sheriff’s Deputy Jimmy Williams.

“The driver, 24, presented a Mexican driver’s license,” Williams said. “He spoke a little English and was an illegal alien. He said he was taking the men in the vehicle to Tennessee for work and they had no legal papers to be in the United States.

“The Excursion was just loaded with people — in the floorboard — in the back.”

Williams said none of the occupants had a visa or a passport — nothing to show they weren’t illegal aliens.

Williams said everyone in the Excursion was detained after deputies called ICE agents.

The driver told local lawmen that the group had come from Oklahoma City. But the ICE agent told Williams they had been transported from “out west.”

None of the passengers appeared to be able to speak English, Williams said.

Muskogee County Sheriff Charles Pearson said his deputies had been working drug interdiction on I-40.

Most methamphetamine is being brought into the United States and law enforcement is stepping up efforts to intercept any drug traffic, Pearson said.

ICE will assist the Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office in an attempt to confiscate the Excursion under forfeiture laws.

“It probably would be good for transport because it holds so many people,” Pearson said.

The person who owns the vehicle had been paid “$1,000 a head to transport them (illegals),” Pearson said ICE agents told him.



Reach Donna Hales at 918-684-2923 or Click Here to Send Email

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