In a routine bout of inter-agency cooperation, the Butler County Sheriff's Office has teamed up with federal law enforcement to swoop in on a group of undocumented immigrants in West Chester, ushering at least a couple of them into the grip of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. These arrests stemmed from a domestic abuse complaint filed by a mother on behalf of her daughter, which cast a light on the suspect's immigration status and led to a traffic stop revealing several more individuals potentially without proper papers.
The Sheriff's Office, led by Sheriff Richard K. Jones, launched its investigation following the report of the mother, who remains anonymous, about her daughter's abusive relationship. A post on the Butler County Sheriff's Office's Facebook page said the mother "reported that her adult daughter was in an abusive relationship and had recently been cut with a knife during a domestic incident." Jones ordered the subsequent investigation, which led to the discovery of the suspect's alleged undocumented status.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) entered the fray after the Sheriff's Office identified their jurisdictional limits. The traffic stop was made on West Chester Road in West Chester Township, ending with three adult males and one juvenile detained. Sheriff Jones, who is no stranger to immigration issues, seemed to bolster federal enforcement efforts through local policing.
In their social media communiqué, the Butler County Sheriff's Office listed the apprehended: Carlos Augstin-Vicente, Alejandro Augstin-Vicente, and Gaspar Augstin-Puentes, reported as nationals of Guatemala. The juvenile, whose identity and details were not expounded on due to protective measures, was handed off to a legal sponsor while the adults were taken into ICE custody "without incident," the Sheriff's Office noted. This spectacle of enforcement was but a glimpse into local authorities enmeshed with national immigration policy, drawing usual lines of public scrutiny and debate.
