The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently arrested 13 persons suspected to be illegal aliens who were working and living on Kauai.
Seven of the suspects are in Honolulu facing deportation hearings.
The BCIS conducts such operations here about once a year. During the week of May 12, a team of about four agents detained two suspected illegal aliens from Mexico, three from Tonga, four from Lithuania, three from the Philippines, and one from Canada.
The two Mexicans were working in a bakery in Lihue; one Filipino was working in food service; and one Tongan was working in construction. One of the other Tongans was unemployed, and the third was a child.
Four were arrested on criminal grounds. Three were charged with abuse of a household member; the fourth was charged with third degree promotion of a dangerous drug and fourth degree theft.
The Kauai Police Department assisted the operation in providing a work space for the agents.
According to Don Radcliffe, interim district director of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Honolulu, some of the suspects were doing agriculture work and others worked in food service at various locations around the island.
Six of the people were released on their own recognizance either because they had close family ties or minor children, Radcliffe said. Seven were arrested and transported to Honolulu for immigration hearings.
Radcliffe said the BCIS could not release the names of employers who hired the aliens.
The 13 people were booked and processed for removal hearings before an immigration judge in Honolulu. The immigration court was not able to provide information on hearing dates without the suspects’ alien registration numbers, which were not made available.
Radcliffe said the Mexicans entered the United States across the Southwest border, probably either in California or Arizona, and entered Hawaii aboard a domestic flight. He said he didn’t know if the others entered Hawaii by air or sea.
The Bureau of Customs and Border Protection investigates possible cases. When the CBP does detect an alien with an address here and have illegally entered or here on an illegal or expired visa, the investigation is turned over to BCIS because the CBP’s jurisdiction ends at the seaport or airport.
On march 1, the Immigration and Naturalization Service became part of the newly-created Department of Homeland Security, and its functions divided into several bureaus in that department.
For more information regarding immigration or border protection, please access http://www.bcis.gov, www.cbp.gov or www.dhs.gov.
Staff Writer Kendyce Manguchei can be reached at mailto:kmanguchei@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 252).
