The Associated Press

COLUMBUS - Police here say they typically won't arrest illegal immigrants unless they've committed a crime other than being in the country unlawfully.

Franklin County Sheriff Jim Karnes refuses to detain them unless there's a local charge on which to hold them. Karnes is still smarting over difficulties he had several years ago in getting the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services - previously the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service - to pay a bill.

"If we stop someone we know to be illegal, we've got no place to bring them. The county won't accept them," said Columbus Police Cmdr. Bill Mattei.

Officers simply let them go, he said.