Immigration hold on driver in fatal crash

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
August 17, 2011

According to yesterday's Northwest Herald, the McHenry County Sheriff's Department has placed an immigration hold on Luis Ramirez-Arguelles in the fatal crash on August 5.

A check of Ramirez-Arguelles' traffic misdeeds in McHenry County reveals a 2010 arrest for driving without a driver's license; the charge states a driver's license was never issued to him. (Case No. 10TR34363) He pled guilty on July 23 and he was fined $783.00 and given one-year conditional release. He had a public defender, and he was to pay his fine monthly at $52.00. A related charge of speeding 15-20MPH over the limit was nolle prossed.

In November a motion was filed related to financial compliance, and on December 17 a Petition to Revoke was continued on the defendant's request. Nothing else appears in the record until on July 22, 2011 his one-year conditional discharge was terminated. His fine and costs were paid in full.

Two weeks later, on August 5, he was involved in a head-on fatal crash, and now there is an immigration hold. Did he have a valid driver's license on August 5th? How did he get it?

Did anyone check his immigration status last year? Is this year's Hold because he is in the USA illegally? Or is it because a conviction could affect any current legal immigration status that he might have?