By Rick Steelhammer, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — “We’re going to be cracking down pretty hard on illegal immigration in West Virginia,” Gov. Patrick Morrisey said during a news conference Thursday, before detailing that a total of 72 people had been arrested as of late Wednesday in a statewide sweep by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Of the 72 detainees, Morrisey said, 13 already were serving sentences in state prisons or regional jails for a variety of criminal offenses, including one inmate with a murder conviction.
The governor said 36 of the detainees were picked up for violating immigration laws. They were apprehended “not for simply walking across the border,” but for such offenses as failing to respond to deportation orders, violating court orders, not appearing at scheduled immigration hearings or for reentering the United States and West Virginia after having been deported.