Posted on September 25, 2006

Seven Illegal Mexican Immigrants Arrested At Dem. Chair’s Home

James Madden, Chariho Times (R.I.), September 21, 2006

On Saturday, September 16 at around 2 p.m. Charlestown Police arrested seven illegal Mexicans at the residence of John M. Rosa of 81 Ross Hill Road. Rosa is the chairman of the Town Democratic Committee.

The story began when police answered a call from a Ross Hill Road resident that complained about extremely loud “Hispanic rap” coming from Rosa’s residence.

According to police reports, prior to the police arriving at Rosa’s residence, the disgruntled neighbor informed police that there were illegal immigrants living next door.

When police arrived to Rosa’s home, loud music was coming from the garage in back where at least some of the illegal immigrants were gathered in a group.

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Police then attempted to obtain identification from those gathered and no one produced a valid ID. According to a media release, “several of the parties verbally indicated that they were in this country illegally.”

Seven Mexican nationals were then arrested and brought to the Charlestown Police Station for further investigation into their legal status.

Police said they were able obtain positive identification of the immigrants through fingerprinting, and then contacted Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) who confirmed that the seven immigrants are indeed in the United States illegally.

Once contacted, ICE authorized the release of the immigrants to Rosa, due to the fact that the immigrants have lived in the area for so long, and they’ve had no previous criminal issues with ICE.

Police also said that most of the immigrants live with Rosa and work for his construction company.

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