Missouri Governor Blunt's Immigration Directive Leads to Detention of Illegal Immigrant in Camden County

August 30, 2007 -- JEFFERSON CITY - Missouri Governor Matt Blunt’s tough directive against illegal immigration is already getting results. Just one day after Gov. Blunt announced his law enforcement initiative to fight unlawful immigration, his directive lead to the detention of an illegal immigrant in Camden County who is now awaiting deportation.

“I want to thank the Missouri State Highway Patrol and Camden County Sheriff’s Department working together in the arrest and detainment of Mr. Delacruz,” Blunt said. “I especially want to thank Sergeant Richard Buttram with the Missouri State Highway Patrol who quickly implemented my directive to verify the immigration status of every criminal presented for incarceration. Consistent with my directive Sergeant Buttram ran an immigration check on both suspects in this Camden County case and found that one of them, Mr. Delacruz, was in the country illegally. An investigation also uncovered that Mr. Delacruz had a warrant for his arrest in Jackson County. As I said earlier this week, we will make every effort, implement every tool, and take every step to ensure the laws against illegal immigration are enforced.”

On Monday, the governor directed all state law enforcement agencies to verify the immigration status of every criminal presented for incarceration. On Tuesday night a Camden County officer held two men who were allegedly involved in an assault. The officer requested Missouri State Highway Patrol assistance and they arrived on the scene within minutes. The men were arrested for investigation of assault and during the stop failed to show legitimate identification.

While assisting the Camden County Deputy, the Missouri State Highway Trooper ran ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) checks on both suspects and found Jose Guadalupe Delacruz of Mexico is illegally in the United States. Evidence uncovered through the investigation also revealed Delacruz had a warrant for his arrest from Jackson County for driving while revoked.

Mr. Delacruz is now being held in Camden County Jail awaiting deportation. Tuesday’s arrest is an ideal example of local and state law enforcement working together with commendable effort to protect Missourians from unlawful immigration. Gov. Blunt said he is pleased law enforcement officials are taking the extra steps he outlined in his directive for tougher enforcement of our immigration laws.

On Monday, Blunt highlighted a tragic murder in Newark where an illegal immigrant, who was previously arrested for child rape and released on bail, was among those charged in the murder of three promising young college students. Identifying the murderer as an illegal immigrant when he was originally arrested could possibly have prevented the murders.

“We cannot wait for Washington to stop unlawful immigration,” Blunt said. “We must be proactive to protect Missourians from harm and help prevent what happened in New Jersey from happening in Missouri.”

To prevent a similar tragedy in Missouri, Blunt directed all law enforcement units in the Department of Public Safety (Water Patrol, Highway Patrol and Capitol Police) to:

* Verify the immigration status of every individual presented for incarceration. Anyone identified as illegal will be detained to prevent them from committing any crimes. It was this action that led to the detainment of Mr. Delacruz.

* Prepare for special 287(g) training and deputization that allows state law enforcement officials to enforce federal immigration law as authorized through section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

* Encourage and assist local law enforcement to apply for 287(g) status and to otherwise offer state assistance, resources and support including making available Live Scan for local law enforcement agencies that will use it. To date, the state has invested more than $2 million of homeland security money in Live Scan, which allows fingerprints to be scanned in the field.

Blunt also took decisive action to prevent taxpayers’ money from supporting illegal immigration. He recently announced new directives to the Missouri Department of Economic Development to ensure state-supported building projects are not employing illegal workers including:

* Conducting random on-site inspections of all projects accompanied by the tax credit recipient to monitor and retrieve documentation regarding the legal status of all workers on the job. The inspections will include direct employees of the tax credit recipient, contracted or subcontracted agents and both general contractors and their subcontractors.

* Performing a Compliance By Written Demand action for all tax credit recipients that requires all workers’ proof of legal status including contractors and subcontractors to be submitted within 30 days of the date of the receipt of the written request.

Blunt is a strong advocate for protecting Missouri from illegal activity. He recently issued a letter to the Missouri Housing Development Commission outlining principles for the commission to consider regarding illegal immigration that include possible sanctions of up to a lifetime ban of contractors and developers who knowingly employs illegal immigrants in violation of federal law.

The letter follows the governor’s tough stand against illegal immigration and workers. Earlier this year Gov. Blunt ousted a state contractor who hired illegal workers and ordered state agencies to enact a no tolerance policy through tough new contract protections. The governor cancelled the state’s contract with Sam’s Janitorial Services and barred them from doing further business with the state after local and federal law enforcement agencies identified dozens of suspected illegal immigrants working under falsified documents.

Blunt also authored the state’s first directive to audit all contractors to ensure that the contract employees are legally eligible to work in the U.S. and to terminate contracts if it is determined a contractor employs illegal immigrants. He added tough provisions in state contracts to allow the state to immediately cancel contracts if it determines the contractor knowingly has employees not eligible to work in the U.S. and to require contractors to certify that all their employees meet state and federal employment eligibility requirements.

Source: Missouri Governor

Bookmark/Search this post with:

 •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •    •