W.Va. Crime Crackdown Yields Arrests On Two Fronts

Law enforcement agencies in West Virginia reported significant progress on two important but unrelated fronts Thursday: illegal immigration and illegal drug distribution.

At a press conference flanked by multiple law enforcement officers, Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced more than two dozen new charges of immigration violations since Sept. 21. 

That’s when a partnership between the state Department of Homeland Security, State Police, Division of Corrections as well as federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and others went into effect under what’s known as a 287-g agreement.

“West Virginia State Police have now arrested 37 illegal immigrants in our state from the first day they were working directly with ICE,” Morrisey said. “Thirty-seven arrests in 11 days. That’s an unbelievable and astonishing number given the size of our state.”

Of that number, 27 were apprehended during traffic stops on the West Virginia Turnpike and 10 were apprehended at DUI checkpoints. 

That brings the total number of immigration violation charges in the state to more than 1,000 since the first of the year, according to Morrisey. 

Although it appears none of those charges involved the possession or distribution of illegal drugs, Morrisey drew a parallel between illegal immigration and crimes driven by the flow of illegal drugs from Mexico.

“We know that there’s a lot of really nasty things that are going on from the Mexican drug cartels, and we’re seeing the effects of that, not only on drug trafficking, money laundering and a lot of property crime, a lot of issues that can stem back to illicit immigration,” Morrisey said.

Morrisey also announced one of the single largest drug busts in state history, with the seizure of drugs, guns and paraphernalia in Mercer County on Sept. 10, including: 

• 54 pounds of suspected fentanyl 
• 70 pounds of suspected crystal meth 
• 23 pounds of marijuana 
• 15 firearms 
• 3 brick presses 

“Fifty-four pounds of suspected fentanyl, that can kill a lot of people. It has a value on the street of over $825,000,” Morrisey said. 

He credited the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office and Prosecutor’s Office, the Southern Regional Drug and Violent Crime Task Force with the work leading to multiple search warrants and arrests in that case. 

Morrisey said the government shutdown is not expected to affect ongoing enforcement efforts.