Wayne County: Small town police chief frustrated with illegal aliens...

Wayne County: Small town police chief frustrated with illegal aliens


By Michael O'Mara
The WKYC News (Cleveland, OH), April 22, 2008



Apple Creek, OH -- 'We arrest them and the prosecutor's office lets them go,' Police Chief John Lowe said about the immigration concerns facing the small town of Apple Creek.

There are only 1,100 residents in this rural community where their Amish neighbors still plow the fields behind a team of draft horses.

In the last few years, there has been an increasing number of Hispanics moving into the area. The police chief says too many have false documents or counterfeit licenses.

Lowe pulls out a large file folder full of fake documents that have been handed to his police officers when making a traffic stop.

However, the chief claims that whenever the case is forwarded to the Wayne County Prosecutors office, each case gets dismissed.

'My whole department is frustrated,' Lowe said. 'In fact, I think every agency in the county is frustrated. We're doing our job and court system is letting them go.'

In the last six years, there have been 20 arrests of suspected illegal Mexican drivers in Apple Creek and each case was tossed out.

'If he gets into a wreck and kills somebody, I'm going to notify the family that our prosecutor system screwed up,' Lowe said.

In this small town, most residents share the police chief's frustration.

At the nearby convenience store, Bonnie Tarleton said that the 'Hispanic workers should learn our language and abide by our laws. If we were going to live in Mexico, we would be expected to do the same thing.'

At the drive-through, Blake Meir, was even blunter.

'If they don't like it they can leave,' she said. 'If I got caught with false documents around here, I wouldn't get a break, so neither should they.'

Hispanic Americans living in Apple Creek like Juan Lopez have a much different perspective. Lopez has been in this country for 20 years after moving from his home in central Mexico. He has great empathy for his former countrymen.

'These people are just out there looking for a better life,' Lopez said. 'They have the dream of a new life. Everybody has a dream like that.'

Lopez has seen the news coverage of the recent raids across Northeast Ohio by I.N.S. agents targeting undocumented Mexican workers.

'Around here, my friends are happy to do the worst jobs in every plant,' Lopez said. 'But they get into trouble for traffic offenses or having false documents. They know they are breaking the law.'

The mounting frustration is not going to keep Lowe from enforcing the law.

'We plan to keep doing our job, no matter how frustrated we get,' Lowe said as he parked his cruiser in the modest police station. 'I'd just like to see the prosecutor's office do their job.'



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=87821