Deputies detain buses while feds question workers about legal status

KFDM News has learned agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained two buses filled with dozens of workers who arrived in Winnie from jobs in Michigan.

Chambers County Sheriff Joe LaRive told KFDM News his deputies got a call Wednesday about two charter buses stopped in the middle of a road in Winnie, blocking traffic behind a bank..

He says deputies saw about one hundred people pulling suitcases off the buses.

The deputies became suspicious because there's not a bus terminal in Winnie.

Several of the men ran away when deputies went to check out the buses.

According to Sheriff LaRive, the men said a businessman chartered the buses to take them to Michigan for work. The buses returned Wednesday.

The Sheriff's Office contacted federal immigration officers. They asked deputies to detain the buses.

The buses were brought to Winnie Stowell Park where federal agents began questioning each worker for documentation.

They were able to question 59 workers. The rest had run away

The Department of Homeland Security sent a bus to Winnie and transported 42 workers to a federal detention center in Houston.

LaRive said one was arrested for possession of marijuana. He had a joint in his sock.

According to Sheriff LaRive, several men admitted they are in this country illegally.

Some are from Winnie. Others are from Port Arthur and Liberty. A few are from Houston.