Minnesota drug raids snare 41 immigrants - ALL Hispanic
/Still NO Raids Targeting Europeans or Canadians
As they tallied drugs seized in coordinated raids this week in southeastern Minnesota, authorities on Thursday defended their detention of suspected illegal immigrants who were not targets of the raids but were apprehended during searches of homes. "We were not using it as an excuse to round up anybody," said Tim Counts, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in response to a lawyer's claim that the detentions overstepped the authority of the drug raids. Wednesday's raids followed a yearlong investigation of gang activity in Faribault and Northfield. Forty-one adults were arrested on drug or weapons charges, according to Rice County jail administrator Jodi Bushey. Three more were arrested Thursday, and authorities were searching for two dozen others named in arrest warrants. Eleven of the adults who were arrested Wednesday also face possible deportation as illegal immigrants after their drug or weapons charges are resolved in Rice County District Court. Most of those arrested are Hispanic and many are members of gangs, said Northfield Police Chief Gary Smith. [more
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As they tallied drugs seized in coordinated raids this week in southeastern Minnesota, authorities on Thursday defended their detention of suspected illegal immigrants who were not targets of the raids but were apprehended during searches of homes. "We were not using it as an excuse to round up anybody," said Tim Counts, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in response to a lawyer's claim that the detentions overstepped the authority of the drug raids. Wednesday's raids followed a yearlong investigation of gang activity in Faribault and Northfield. Forty-one adults were arrested on drug or weapons charges, according to Rice County jail administrator Jodi Bushey. Three more were arrested Thursday, and authorities were searching for two dozen others named in arrest warrants. Eleven of the adults who were arrested Wednesday also face possible deportation as illegal immigrants after their drug or weapons charges are resolved in Rice County District Court. Most of those arrested are Hispanic and many are members of gangs, said Northfield Police Chief Gary Smith. [more
]
