Police chief: ICE ordered illegal immigrant released (Standard Speaker)

Police chief: ICE ordered illegal immigrant released
By TOM RAGAN (Staff Writer)
Published: May 4, 2011

Beaver Meadows police apprehended a man who has been living in the United States illegally for the past six years during a traffic stop.

However, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not grant a detainer to Chief Michael Morresi and ordered that 30-year-old Oswaldo Tlalmis-Perez be released.

Morresi said he stopped the vehicle after it was observed traveling 56 mph on state Route 93, which has a 35-mph limit within borough limits.

According to the chief, Tlalmis-Perez produced a Mexican registration card as identification. Morresi contacted ICE, which confirmed he was an illegal immigrant in this country for six years after getting an interpreter from Miami to talk to the man.

Morresi said ICE had him conduct four hours of processing and then decided not to issue a detainer and ordered Tlalmis-Perez released at the Luzerne County line. Morresi said he followed orders after citing Tlalmis-Perez for driving at an unsafe speed and driving without a driver's license.

The owner of the car, Edgardo Laurelno-Molina of Emerald Court in Hazleton, was cited for permitted violation of title or allowing an unlicensed driver to use his car.

Morresi said he wondered why ICE took up four hours of his time before ordering him to release the illegal immigrant.