MUNISING — U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Sault Ste. Marie station performed a traffic stop in Munising on Monday that resulted in the arrest of 10 people who were illegally present in the United States, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The agents stopped a white Chevrolet van with multiple passengers inside and upon questioning, the van’s driver and nine passengers “admitted to being in the United States illegally and not having any documents allowing them to be or remain in the United States,” Border Patrol officials said in a press release.

“Today the men and women of the United States Border Patrol made Munising safer by removing a convicted illegal alien drug dealer and nine others from the streets,” Sault Ste. Marie Acting Patrol Agent in Charge Andrew Halonen said in the release. “Our agents will continue to enforce the laws of the United States while also continuing to keep our country, state, and local communities safe.”

All of the individuals in the van were then transported to the Border Patrol station in Sault Ste. Marie for processing. During the processing, four individuals were identified as “previously removed aliens,” officials said. Record checks revealed that one of the men, Jose Bernal-Medeles, a citizen of Mexico, had been formally removed from the United States in 2001, 2007 and 2015. In addition to these removals, Bernal-Medeles had been convicted of narcotics charges in both Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Bernal-Medeles and the three other individuals were turned over to the custody of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Enforcement and Removal Operation and are being held, pending reinstatement of prior order of removal. The rest of the individuals will be held pending removal proceedings, officials said.

The U.S. Border Patrol asks anyone with information on suspicious situations to call the Detroit Sector Border Patrol’s BorderWatch telephone number toll-free at 800-537-3220.