CHICAGO — Diego Hernandez and Anh Phan have never met, but they may share something of a common path.

Both Hernandez, 40, a native of Mexico, and Phan, 27, a Vietnamese national, were held for immigration officials after they were arrested in Madison County, and will attend court hearings in Chicago to resolve their citizenship status.

Anderson police arrested Hernandez this month on suspicion of misdemeanor drunken driving and driving without ever having received a license.

Indiana State Police troopers arrested Phan in September at the Pendleton BMV branch when she allegedly tried to get an Indiana ID card using fraudulent Permanent Resident and Social Security cards.

Hernandez and Phan’s brushes with law enforcement represent how illegal aliens often come into contact with immigration officials. But not all people here illegally — even those who’ve been arrested — appear on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s radar.

“Unless they’ve been previously deported, they really don’t put a hold on them,” said Andy Williams, Madison County Jail commander. “If it’s a minor offense, they don’t necessarily process them through.”

Hernandez had previously been deported to Mexico, and he’s had previous felony arrests.

Gail Montenegro, a spokeswoman for ICE’s Chicago district, admitted that many illegals fall off the radar even if they’ve come in contact with the criminal justice system, even if they’ve been arrested for petty crimes.

Being an illegal alien is a violation of federal law, Montenegro said, “but like any law enforcement agency, we have to prioritize.

“Our top priority is any illegal alien accused of a violent crime,” Montenegro said. “After that would be habitual criminals, such as numerous drunken driving arrests.”

Immigration officials lack the resources to remove all illegal aliens. There are over 15,000 people working for ICE, with offices around the world. The agency deporteed more 275,000 illegal aliens in fiscal year 2007, according to the agencies annual report, so the agency prioritizes the most serious violators: violent offenders, those convicted of major drug offenses and those who have already been deported.

Another priority is fugitive aliens, or illegal aliens that have gone through the deportation hearing process but absconded before they could be taken into custody. There are currently about 600,000 fugitive aliens in the United States, she said.

Along with Indiana and Illinois, the Chicago office covers Wisconsin, Kentucky, Kansas and Missouri. Most taken into custody in Madison County are transported to Marion County but then processed through an intake facility in Broadview, Ill., near Chicago.

Usually, a hearing before a judge with the Executive Office of Immigration Review, which is under the U.S. Department of Justice umbrella, is then scheduled.

Detainees aren’t appointed a public defender if they can’t afford private counsel to represent them during in the hearing process.But ICE does provide detainees with a list of pro bono immigration attorneys. They’re also given information on how to contact their nation’s consulate office in Chicago, Montenegro said. She said criminal prosecution is possible in some cases, similar to Anh Phan’s case, where the person is alleged to have used phony documents to get an ID, or suspected of committing identity theft.