Seventeen people were arrested at a recent immigration checkpoint on an interstate in upstate New York.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Border Patrol said Friday that the mandatory checkpoint operated for five days on I-87 near North Hudson, 80 miles from the Canadian border. Motorists stopped at the checkpoint last weekend were asked to identify their citizenship.
Of the 17 people arrested, four were turned over to state police for drug and weapons violations. The other 13 were arrested for immigration-related offenses and included individuals from Mexico, China, Peru, Guatemala and Honduras.
The spokeswoman says one case is linked to a "known transnational criminal organization."
Past checkpoints in the area have been controversial. In 2004, four people died in a crash when vehicles approaching the checkpoint failed to stop in time.
