NEWS RELEASE
Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office
Phone: (704) 336-3667
August 1, 2006
DEPUTIES CONTINUE TO FIND ILLEGAL ALIENS WITH MULTIPLE DEPORTATIONS
Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office Deputies, trained by Immigration & Customs Enforcement staff, continue to identify illegal aliens arrested in Mecklenburg County with multiple prior deportations. To date, twenty-three arrestees previously removed from the country, have re-entered the United States illegally and re-arrested in Mecklenburg County.
Last week, Rafael Duarte-Vega was arrested on a violation of the Open Container Ordinance. During the fingerprinting process, Mr. Vega was identified as an illegal alien who has been deported 5 times since 1982. Mr. Vega, whose country of origin is Mexico, has convictions in California for Burglary, Robbery, Heroin Sale and Cocaine Sale, all of which are felonies.
"If it were not for the immigration program we have in place at our jail," says Sheriff Jim Pendergraph, "these individuals would continue to live in our communities, committing crime, and preying on the citizens of Mecklenburg County."
Deputies routinely ask arrestees their country of birth. If an arrestee was born outside of the United States, the individual is fingerprinted and photographed. This information is sent directly to the Immigration database. Early in the program, deputies identified an arrestee, Adrian Sanchez-Morales, who had four local charges, including possession of PCP. Deputies discovered that Mr. Morales had 22 voluntary returns and one deportation after being charged in Arizona for smuggling aliens.
"This cannot continue," says Pendergraph, "we must work to secure our borders to keep these criminals out of our country."
To date, 719 Mecklenburg County arrestees have been identified as born outside the United States; of these, 264 have been processed for removal.