Illegal Aliens Arrested in Oregon County’s Biggest-Ever Meth Bust
Two men who were arrested earlier this month for transporting more than 70 pounds of methamphetamine through Oregon are Mexican nationals living in the U.S. illegally, The Daily Caller News Foundation learned.
Israel Mercado Mendoza of Creswell, Ore., and Rigoberto Morfin Pedroza of Los Angeles were arrested March 17 following a traffic stop on Interstate 5 in Douglas County, Ore. During the stop, a police dog signaled the presence of drugs in the car. A subsequent search led to the discovery of 74 pounds of meth, the largest seizure in county history, according to the Douglas Interagency Narcotics Team.
Mercado Mendoza and Morfin Pedroza are illegal immigrants, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials. They were taken into custody and detained at the Douglas County Jail, where federal authorities placed immigration detention requests for both men.
“On March 19, ICE lodged detainers on Israel Salvador Mercado-Mendoza and Rigoberto Morfin-Pedroza, both citizens of Mexico illegally in the U.S., with the Douglas County Jail after their arrests on local felony charges,” an ICE spokeswoman told David Olen Cross, an independent crime researcher based in Salem, Ore.
Cross obtained the men’s immigration status as a part of his research into Oregon illegal aliens’ criminal activity, he told TheDCNF. On behalf of Republican state Sen. Kim Thatcher, Cross creates monthly reports using data from ICE and the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC). His reports are aimed at documenting the cost of incarcerating foreign nationals in the Oregon prison system, where one in 15 inmates is a criminal alien. (Read more from “Illegal Aliens Arrested in Oregon County’s Biggest-Ever Meth Bust” HERE)
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