Earlier today, WGMD News reported the story of three men arrested by the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife for spotlighting deer:

Three men have been charged with spotlighting and killing deer in Fenwick Island. Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Agents arrested 28 year old Manuel Galvan, 32 year old Ariosto Lopez and 36 year old Javier Mendez on Wednesday after receiving a complaint about spotlighting. Each of the men face a variety of charges and officials also seized a truck and .22 caliber rifle as evidence. All three are being held at SCI in default of $3500 dollars secured bond.

Since then, and after making more phone calls than a teenager on a Friday night, WGMD has learned that the trio of deer poachers were in the United States illegally. Here’s what we know so far:

- The Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement had to make the determination as to whether or not the men were legally in the USA.

- The men are “Mexican nationals.” This was determined by ICE (much cooler name than “INS,” by the way), as the men sat at the Sussex Correctional Institution.

- Only one of the men had a driver’s license. The license was from Florida. Florida is one of the few states that will issue a driver’s license to an illegal immigrant. Big thanks to the Sunshine State for aiding a series of criminal acts with their slacker policy.

- The three were caught in Fenwick Island “spotlighting” deer, which is illegal. No one had a hunting license. They killed an antlerless deer that did not have a tag. Some of the other charges against them are shooting near a road, hunting out of season, and conspiracy. They were hunting with a .22 caliber rifle, which is also illegal.

- They were apparently not shooting from their truck, but they did throw the deer in the truck, and the truck has been seized.

- The .22 caliber rifle was the only weapon they were caught with. But that still begs the question as to how people in the USA and Delaware illegally got their hands on a rifle like that.

- The Delaware Fish and Wildlife officers were unable to communicate with the armed criminals because of a language barrier. They had to get an officer from Laurel to translate. What an incredibly dangerous situation for our men and women at Fish and Wildlife, fully armed people who can’t understand each other face to face in the middle of a crime scene.

- According to Michael Gilhooly from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the men may be entitled to a hearing, but when the State is finished with them, ICE will take them into custody and deport them, which is eerily similar to the way law abiding citizens of the United States want situations like this to be handled.

Dramatic reenactment of the deer’s final moments.

So “thank you” to Delaware Fish and Wildlife and ICE for administering some much needed justice. At a time when Delawareans are getting ready for a wave of regulations and financial costs associated with the State’s new Salt Water Fishing License, it’s nice to know that this is at least one area where being a lawful US citizen is an advantage. I’m sure that deer would totally agree with me.