Geneseo Police Chief Eric Osganian responded to questions from the

Democrat and Chronicle about events Thursday night involving the

individuals from Guatemala and why Border Patrol was involved.

Osganian sent this email:

Our officer stopped a car for speeding on South Street last night around
6:15pm. The vehicle pulled over on the By-Pass (Route 942D). He had
difficulty identifying the driver of the vehicle. The female driver and the adult
female passenger spoke no English. The driver had a Guatemala passport.
There was not a licensed driver in the car. A child in the car was assisting
with communication between the officer and the driver. They did not own or
were the registered owner of the vehicle they were driving. There were also
two children in the rear seats that were not restrained by a child safety seat,
per NYS law. A total of 5 children were in the vehicle and 2 adults. The officer
checked our state computer system, which did not provide any information
on the driver. He called Border Patrol to confirm the passport and assist in
identification of the driver. We are not experts in these types of documents,
as Border Patrol is. Border Patrol has been our resource in assisting us with
this. The call was not made as an immigration purpose, solely for
identification purposes. We request the services of other agencies to assist
us. Just like we call Child Protective Services to assist in child abuse cases.
We call the Secret Service on identification of counterfeit bills. We call the FBI
on fraud cases. We call the DMV with fake driver's licenses. The list goes on.
Border Patrol did respond to Geneseo. A group formed by the traffic stop and
was protesting the calling of Border Patrol. This led to a more dangerous
situation, because we don't want people on the side of the road at night.
Border Patrol transported the individuals to their facility. We were not
involved in any transportation of the individuals. Our purpose in calling
Border Patrol was to confirm the identity of the driver. Any
transportation/detention for immigration status was done by Border Patrol.

For people that are concerned that we are rounding up people and doing
raids are all completely not true. We have never done any of those
activities here and we have no plans to do them. The officer was following
through trying to identify the driver and called Border Patrol for assistance. If
there was a valid licensed driver, driving the vehicle, there would have been
no need to call Border Patrol to confirm the ID of the driver...