Katrina Victims Put in Deportation in Spite of Call to Seek Help

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http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBRE6EETDE.html

A Handful of Katrina Victims Put in Deportation in Spite of Call to Seek Help Regardless of Status

WASHINGTON (AP) - After heeding the Bush administration's call to seek help regardless of status, a handful of illegal immigrants who fled Hurricane Katrina have been ordered to appear for deportation hearings.

Three undocumented immigrants were met by immigration agents at the El Paso, Texas, airport when they were flown in from the Gulf Coast along with other evacuees, said Leticia Zamarripa, Immigration and Custom Enforcement spokeswoman in El Paso. A fourth person, a permanent legal resident, was questioned and released, she said.

The immigrants went through background checks and fingerprinting and were released with orders to appear for deportation hearings, Zamarripa said. They were allowed to go to other shelters in Texas, said Ouisa Davis, an attorney for one of the immigrants. She did not have details, including the date of the initial questioning.

In another instance, state troopers in West Virginia called in immigration agents on Sept. 4 when a woman alleged that she was sexually assaulted by another passenger on a bus carrying evacuees to Camp Dawson, ICE spokesman Dean Boyd said Monday.