The Morning News
ROGERS,Arkansas -- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers made a "routine" site visit to Benton County on Thursday and held a closed door meeting with local authorities.
Mayor Steve Womack declined to comment on the meeting and said he'd let the media know when he had something to report, said Wendy Shumate, his assistant.
Police Chief Steve Helms also met with Womack and the immigration and customs officers. Helms did not immediately return messages left at his office Thursday.
Womack applied for the federal program in November to train and certify local law enforcement officers to act in specified capacities as immigration officers.
It is believed the meeting dealt with his application to participate in the federal program.
--snip--
A plan to deal with illegal immigrants was announced by Womack after Brian Culpepper, a detective with the Rogers Police Department, was shot in October while serving a drug-related search warrant at 703 E. Mimosa Place.
Maria Ayon-Torres struggled with officers during the search warrant, which resulted in Culpepper being accidentally shot. Ayon-Torres was found to be an illegal immigrant and was released on Nov. 21 on a "voluntary departure" order to Mexico.
Related Story
Maria Ayon-Torres Not Yet in Mexico (Alien Absconder)