Dawn patrol: ICE agents rise early to nab, deport fugitives

Dawn patrol: ICE agents rise early to nab, deport fugitives
By Jennifer W. Sanchez The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 02/28/2008 06:24:11 AM MST

MURRAY - They assembled before the sun came up, about 5 a.m., in a brown-brick office building in a quiet business park, ready to hit the streets in search of the day's top "targets." Six immigration agents formulated a plan to individually surprise and arrest six undocumented immigrants from various countries - including Finland, Honduras and Tonga - in the Salt Lake Valley.
"Are there any questions? If not, let's roll," said an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, who works undercover for the agency and cannot be identified.
About four times a week, Fugitive Operation Team members in Utah go looking for "illegal aliens," or "fugitives," who have been ordered by an immigration judge to leave the United States and didn't. When the agents aren't out on the street, they're investigating their next round of targets.
Cases are prioritized, with those deemed to be threats to national security or having criminal backgrounds at the top of the list. Most of the undocumented immigrants they pick up in Utah are from Mexico, the Pacific Islands and Central and South America, said Steven Branch, ICE Salt Lake City Field Office director.
"It's very diverse here in Utah," said Branch, who has worked for U.S. immigration for 29 years.
Last year, the Utah team arrested and deported 536 undocumented immigrants in its first year of operation. Since October,it has deported 306 of them - an average of 17 people a week, Branch said.
On Tuesday, dressed in black with jackets that read "POLICE / ICE" on the back, the agents separated into a truck, an SUV and a minivan, and headed to the home of Target No. 1, a Mexican charged with assault. They drove through the fog in the dark into an aging downtown Salt Lake City neighborhood near West High School. They parked in an alley behind the white, two-story home. Agents knocked on the door and others surrounded the house in case someone tried to make a run for it.
"You go out to a house and you don't know what to expect," Branch said. "You just hope for the best."

It's rare that ICE officials have a search warrant to enter homes, but people usually let them in when asked, Branch said. Agents usually only have arrest warrants for fugitives.
Arturo Elias Cedillo Robles, 39, answered the door and told officers that Target No. 1 was working a graveyard shift and would return about 7:30 a.m. Agents asked Robles for his U.S. documentation, which he did not have. So agents arrested him, put handcuffs on his wrists and a chain around his waist, with an escort taking him to the minivan. His job as a welder at a downtown company would have to wait.
The agents then drove about 20 minutes to West Valley City to arrest Target No. 2 - Mahe Odu, a 40-year-old Tongan man with assault, domestic violence and unlawful detention charges stemming from 2003. When they knocked at the front door of the two-story house, Odu unsuccessfully tried escaping through the back. Agents later found him hiding in the bathroom.
Odu's wife of 15 years, Ele, woke up their six kids, ages 2 to 14, so they could say goodbye to their father. Odu, who moved to Utah seven years ago on a tourist visa that expired, said the family was able to say a quick prayer before he was arrested.
"I asked the heavenly father to bless us and bless our family," said Odu, who calls himself a devout Mormon who volunteers at his church.
About 6:45 a.m., with the sun rising, the agents headed a few blocks away to another two-story home looking for Target No. 3, a man from Finland. When they got there, the woman at the door claimed to be the man's mother-in-law. She told agents he had returned to Finland with her daughter. Agents will need to have that verified before closing the case, Branch said.
Another few blocks away, agents went after Target No. 4, a man from Honduras. But, the woman at the door claimed it had been two or three years since she had rented a room to him and had no idea where he was living.
By 7:30 a.m., some agents began returning to the ICE office because most of the fugitives would have already left for work. Other agents returned to the house in Salt lake City to try to catch Target No. 1
For now, Targets No. 5, 6 and 7, from Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador, respectively, are safe.
Back at the ICE office, the undocumented immigrants were fingerprinted, photographed and put in one of two holding cells with graffiti on the walls.
Agents learned that Robles had been caught in 2004 by the U.S. Border Patrol in Arizona for trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Most likely, Robles will be quickly deported, an agent said. However, it wouldn't surprise them if Robles was back at work by Monday.
"They'll probably be back in Mexico, kiss mom on the cheek, and be back in Utah," the agent said.
As for Odu, agents said he will definitely be returned to Tonga, but might end up in jail for months waiting for a Tongan passport to travel.
Odu, a construction worker, said he's still going to try to figure out a way to legally stay in Utah, home to his mother, brothers and sisters. He said he's worried about how his wife and children are going to survive without him. He'll miss taking his kids to school.
"I never married to separate," he said. "I married to stay as a family." jsanchez@sltrib.com