BELMONT COUNTY, OH -- They're making a run from the border, and they're coming right into Belmont County. Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers are catching dozens of illegal immigrants traveling Interstate 70, and they have to let them go.

Thursday, the Belmont County post of the State Highway Patrol stopped two vans full of illegal immigrants. The first stop happened around 11:00 a.m. A trooper noticed a large crack across an Arizona van's windshield. He says nine illegal aliens were in the van heading to New Jersey to pick peaches.

"The problem we face is I-70 is a major pipeline for travel. It goes all the way across the country, so we get the aliens," said Trooper Todd McDonald.

The second stop came late in the afternoon when a trooper noticed a van with two license plates from different states. This traffic stop yielded ten illegal immigrants on their way to Pennsylvania.

A total of 19 illegal immigrants were stopped on the interstate Thursday, but troopers only arrested one. He was put behind bars for driving without a license, and the rest were released.

"The Immigration and Naturalization Service doesn't have the manpower to come get them so we have to cut them loose," McDonald said. "They won't deport these ones, so pretty much if they haven't been in trouble they look the other way."

Had the illegal immigrants been from elsewhere, Trooper McDonald says the situation may have been different.

"If it's a terrorist nation, the INS is more prone to come get them versus Mexico," he said. "They're good workers, they're good people, and they're doing things for us that our people don't want to do. I wouldn't say they are any danger, they're just like we are."

The driver who was arrested is now in the Belmont County Jail, and the van was impounded. His passengers are staying in a local hotel until someone can pick them up.

Jill Del Greco, NEWS 9