Colfax Police Chief says stemming flow of illegal aliens an ongoing battle

The chief of police in Colfax says he’s just part of a never-ending battle to intercept and halt the flow of illegal aliens through Iowa. This week his officers took fourteen people into custody after finding them in a van stopped at the Interstate-80 junction near his town. Chief Jon Huggins says it’s the third time this year they’ve handed over illegals to the INS. Huggins says while there’s a lot of frustration not being able to effectively deal with the illegals, he knows there are four or five people in the Des Moines office handling jobs that could keep 30 or 40 busy, and they’re doing the best they can. What bothers Chief Huggins is that they’ve stopped at least two other vehicles since the first of the year with 20 people in them that INS couldn’t pick up, because there was no place to put them. It’s frustrating at times, he says, knowing he has so many people in custody who’ve been breaking this country’s laws and putting people’s lives at risk on the road — but he does believe the people in the Des Moines INS office are doing all they can with the restrictions they have to work with. Huggins says he appreciates the cooperation they get from the INS workers in the local office of the federal agency.