Five illegal immigrants -- four from Mexico and one from El Salvador -- are being held in the Woodward County Jail awaiting deportation.
Sheriff Gary Stanley said four were stopped Saturday by a sheriff’s deputy north of Woodward on State Highway 34.
They were in a GMC sports utility vehicle and were stopped for speeding, he said.
The fifth was stopped Friday by a trooper for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, he said.
Names of the four arrested north of Woodward are Pedro Antonio-Areualo, 41, El Salvador; Alejandro Nunez-Roso, 20, Mexico; Juan Antonio Moreno-Sauala, 18, Mexico; and Juan Nunez-Roso, 30, Mexico, according to information from Immigration Services.
The one arrested by the OHP trooper was Patricio Ortiz Andrade, 35, also from Mexico.
Stanley said the four arrested by the deputy were taken in after they couldn’t produce a driver’s license of other forms of identification.
“On investigation, he discovered they were here illegally,” Stanley said.
He was unable to provide more information on the illegal immigrant brought in by the trooper.
All five are due to be released to the U. S. Department of Homeland Security on Thursday, according to the Immigration Detainer-Notice of Action, a document indicating deportation.
Since they are due to be deported, none of the immigrants has been charged by the Woodward County District Court, the sheriff said.
In addition to the arrests of these five illegal immigrants, Stanley said his deputies made another 19 arrests over the weekend, which meant continued crowding for the jail. Even though some arrestees bonded out, 55 inmates still remain housed at the jail, which is 14 over the facility's 41-bed legal capacity, he said.
