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Immigration sweep lands several in jail
TRAVERSE CITY — Vacant jail cells are hard to come by this week in Chippewa County after authorities scoured the region, including the Traverse City area, for illegal immigrants.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers last week arrested several suspected illegal immigrants throughout northwest Michigan. Many of them are expected to remain in the Chippewa County Jail until they're either deported or face an immigration judge.
"We were on the road almost every day last week," said Chippewa Sheriff Bob Savoie, who contracts with ICE to detain suspects in immigration cases.
Federal authorities said they arrested three suspected illegal immigrants last week at Agave Mexican Grill and Cantina off Garfield Road in Traverse City. The owner didn't return a call for comment.
Officers said they arrested 14 other suspected illegal immigrants last week throughout Traverse City, Lake City and Cadillac as part of a targeted enforcement action.
"It really wasn't a raid," said Khaalid Walls, ICE spokesman. "We sought out specific individuals. We had information that foreign nationals who didn't have legal status were working in that area."
Many of the 17 people arrested last week were from Mexico, while others were from Honduras and Canada, Walls said. Authorities received tips that immigrants worked in northwest Michigan, but Walls said Monday that none of the inmates have been deported.
The Chippewa County Jail held about 160 inmates Monday afternoon, close to its 175-inmate capacity. Nearly 50 of them were federal inmates booked on suspicion of being illegal immigrants.
One of those inmates is Serafin Mendoza, who worked at Wunsch Farms in Peninsula Township. Officers arrested Mendoza last week on suspicion of being an illegal immigrant.
Farm owner Josh Wunsch worked with Mendoza for nearly a decade and said his employee was close to gaining legal status. In 2005, as Mendoza sought legal status, his wife died when she fell into a vat used to clean and process cherries at Peninsula Fruit Exchange.
Mendoza has a young daughter who lives in the area.
"The objective is to get Serafin back with his family," Wunsch said. "The second objective is to finally achieve Serafin's legal status. He's 99 percent of the way there."
Federal officials refused to comment on whether disciplinary action would be taken against the area employers who hired susptected illegal immigrants.
Source - http://record-eagle.com/local/x1110254012/Immigration-sweep-lands-several-in-jail
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