BY PAUL A. LONG | POST STAFF REPORTER
Many of the people charged with being in the United States illegally during a roundup late last month in Covington are negotiating plea agreements, according to court records.
U.S. District Magistrate Judge J. Gregory Wehrman has signed orders in more that a dozen cases giving attorneys for the immigrants until Jan. 2 to file motions for re-arraignment, which would allow the defendants to plead guilty either then or soon afterward.
"The court was advised that there are ongoing plea negotiations between the defendants and the United States," Wehrman wrote in one typical order.
Agents from the Immigration and Custom Enforcement arrested 31 men and one woman, all Mexican nationals, on Nov. 28. Some of those arrested worked on the Ascent at Roebling's Bridge, a 21-story condominium project being built near the foot of the Suspension Bridge in Covington.
The immigrants were picked up near the Home Depot store in Florence, at a parking lot near the Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Bureau in Covington, and at another parking lot near the Mike Fink Restaurant on the Ohio River shore in Covington.
All but two were charged with being in the United States; the other two were charged with violating their visa status. The charges are misdemeanors, but at a recent court hearing, U.S. Attorney Bob McBride said some of the group may face additional felony charges.
McBride could not be reached for comment; in the past, he had declined to talk about open cases.
John Arnett, who represents five of the immigrants, said he's hoping to negotiate a plea that would allow his clients to remain in the United States, at least for a while. If they are deemed witnesses in a larger case, they could plead guilty, be sentenced to time already served, and be released with a special work visa.
That happened with dozens of immigrants arrested earlier this summer during raids on a number of Fisher Homes building sites in Boone County.
Arnett said he doesn't know what, specifically, ICE may be investigation. But if its conduct is similar to the past, he said, the investigation doesn't stop with the arrest of a few illegal immigrants.
"The government is always looking for the big fish," he said. "They start with the minnows, then work their way up."