Sheriff Forced to Release Illegal Immigrants (KTVI-MO)

Sheriff Forced to Release Illegal Immigrants
By Jeff BernthalFOX2now.com
February 16, 2010

ST. FRANCOIS COUNTY, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com) - The St. Francois County Sheriff arrested 14 men he says are illegal immigrants who were working on a construction site in Farmington on Saturday. He thought the arrests would help restore work to legal citizens struggling to find jobs.

The shock came when he called a contact at the Office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"He said he did not want to talk to these people and that we had not authority to hold them and just turn them loose," said Bullock.

"They're taking jobs away from people that need jobs right now that are U.S. citizens," said Gerald Bowyer, an unemployed glass worker. "To me it seems like the illegals in this country got more rights than what the Americans do," he said.

A spokesperson for the Office of U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement said each case must be prioritized and the threat of terrorism is at the top of the list. Other priorities include illegals with a violent past or signs of document forging and smuggling rings.

In this case only one suspect was held because he had warrants for an arrest.

"Our unemployment rate right now is 11.1%," said Bob Meynell, Carpenters' District Council of Greater St. Louis and Vicinity. He believed the work site had been using illegal workers for some time.

"When the local police would drive by you would hear all the whistles on the job site and you'd turn around to look and 6 or 7 of them were hiding," he said.

The Sheriff promises he will continue to investigate any calls concerning undocumented workers but fears this problem will continue.

"I've been hearing stories of this for the last several months officers picking up illegals and then just turning them loose," he said. "Somewhere along the line our legislators need to change the way things are done."