BOSTON (AP) – Immigration agents have detained three Guatemalan illegal immigrants and are investigating the status of eleven others in Rhode Island, an official said Sunday.
Two of those detained had warrants of deportation already issued by an immigration judge. The third man was previously deported and had re-entered the country illegally, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Mike Gilhooly said.
The Guatemalans were found in a van stopped by Rhode Island State Police for speeding on northbound Route 95. Police called in immigration officials after noticing that none of the passengers spoke English or was carrying a driver’s license.
ICE agents processed eleven of the passengers, issued them notices to appear at immigration offices for further investigations and set them free, Gilhooly said.
It was unclear how long the immigrants have been in the country.
The arrests come a month after federal immigration officials rounded up more than 300 workers at the Michael Bianco Inc., a factory in New Bedford, Mass., suspected of being in the country illegally.
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