Number of Illegal immigrants arrested in Oklahoma rising

Wednesday, April 5th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Imagine walking for three days and then paying $1,500 to ride in a vehicle stuffed with more people than it should hold in hopes of getting to a potato field to work for meager wages.

That is the plight of many of the illegal immigrants who have been arrested on Oklahoma's highways, said Major County Sheriff Tom Shaffear.

"Some of them only had a toothbrush and a few pennies in their pockets," he said.

Before they get to their final destination, many are being taken into custody as they cross northern Oklahoma on the way to fields in the southern United States.

The number of illegal immigrants apprehended in the state has dramatically increased, said Linda Rabbet, Oklahoma City officer-in-charge for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Since January, the INS has taken 545 immigrants into custody, she said. That's compared to 247 individuals at this time last year, she said.

"People probably don't realize, being in the middle of the country, the number we're handling," Rabbet said.

The obvious reason Oklahoma sees so much illegal immigrant traffic is because of Interstates 35, 40 and 44 which run through the state, she said. But recently the arrests have been off the major interstates and on U.S. or state highways as immigrants branch out to try other routes.

A lot of the illegal immigrants are headed to the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida, said Lynn Ligon, spokesman for the Dallas district office of the INS. Oklahoma is a part of that district.

"Many are heading for agricultural jobs in those areas," Ligon said.

When they are first detained, illegal immigrants are taken into custody by local law enforcement agencies like the sheriff's department, he said.

When the INS arrives at the scene, they use a fingerprint and photo identification system to find out if the person has been arrested by INS before.

INS officers also find out other information such as what route the illegal immigrants took, whether they used a smuggler and if there was any organization to their trip, he said.

Once the illegal immigrants are processed, they can have either have a hearing before an INS judge or can request a voluntary return to their country of origin, he said.

About 99 percent are from Mexico and the majority of those choose to be returned.

At the border in Laredo, Texas, the illegal immigrants are turned over to Mexican police, Ligon said.

The INS tries to have the illegal immigrants back to their country in at least three days, he said.

About 85 to 90 percent of the immigrants are males, he said.

The main corridor of choice now seems to be through Douglas, Ariz., Ligon said. From Douglas, they travel north to I-40 and then head east, he said.

The major crossing points along the border seem to go in a cycle, he said.

The border patrol is now focusing its attention on the Douglas area.

Ligon compared the situation to applying a decal to a window. Sometimes air bubbles pop up, but you eventually smooth them out, he said.

A trend that law enforcement agencies and the INS have noticed is that smugglers are venturing off the major roadways and on to state highways because of more stringent traffic control, he said.

"That's why we're so grateful for the patrolling of the various law enforcement agencies," he said.

Vehicles are not pulled over because of racial profiling, Shaffear said.

Every time his deputies have stopped a vehicle full of illegal immigrants, it's been because of traffic violations, he said.

And deputies never know what they're getting when they make a stop, Shaffear said. Shaffear thinks the problem doesn't necessarily lie with the illegal immigrants themselves, he said. Smugglers are taking advantage of the illegal immigrants' desire for a better life, he said.

But the immigrants still should go through the proper steps to become a citizen, he said.

After spending time talking with the groups his department has detained, Shaffear is empathetic for the people who can't complete their journey, he said.

"Most of them have been real good people to be around," he said.