Posted on 02/06/2002 12:08:30 AM PST by sarcasm
Two workers who were given the highest security clearances at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport were charged with immigration violations yesterday in a case that illustrates the ease in which they allegedly obtained sensitive jobs by lying on their applications.
The men, foreign nationals who had overstayed their visas for years, had unfettered access to commercial jets, one as a fueler and the other as a food-service employee, federal prosecutors said in charging documents filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
Neither man was accused of having terrorist connections, but both were arrested last month as part of "Operation Tarmac," a nationwide effort by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to tighten security at airports. The operation was launched after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The men, one from Ivory Coast in Africa and one from Mexico, signed immigration forms stating they were permanent residents authorized to work in the United States. One provided a counterfeit ID.
Both were given "blue badges," the highest of three security clearances at the airport, after they were fingerprinted and their names were submitted to the FBI for criminal-history checks, said INS spokesman Garrison Courtney.
They passed the FBI checks because they didn't have convictions for any of about 35 crimes that would have excluded them from the jobs, Courtney said.
But at the time they were checked, the FBI wasn't linked to INS computers that would have showed both were in the country illegally. After Sept. 11, the two agencies linked their computers, Courtney said.
Both men were hired before Sept. 11 and represent a tiny fraction of the overall work force of about 18,000 contract workers at the airport.
They were among 20 Sea-Tac airport employees who were arrested last month for immigration violations. Most were referred for deportation proceedings, but prosecutors decided to charge the two because they possessed the highest security clearances, a federal law-enforcement official said.
Federal prosecutors charged the workers, both of whom no longer work at the airport, with one felony count of falsely stating they were permanent residents and one misdemeanor count of failing to register with the INS.
The two men, Koffi Justin N'Goran, 34, of the Ivory Coast and Clemente Ortiz-Alvarez, 52, of Mexico are scheduled to appear in court today, where they are to plead guilty to the misdemeanor charges under a deal in which prosecutors would drop the felony counts, said their attorney, Antonio Salazar.
If the deal is accepted by the court, both would be given credit for time served, Salazar said.
In addition, Ortiz-Alvarez has agreed to voluntarily leave the country within four months and N'Goran would be allowed to seek asylum in the United States on the grounds he faces persecution in his homeland, Salazar said.
N'Goran was hired last July as a fueler at Aircraft Service International Group, which provides fueling services for most of the major airlines at Sea-Tac airport, according to the charging papers.
Ortiz-Alverez worked since December 2000 for LSG Sky Chefs, which provides food and beverage services for most of the major carriers.
The two companies that hired them and the Port of Seattle, which oversees operations at the airport, followed proper procedures, Courtney said.
Ortiz-Alvarez presented a counterfeit Alien Registration Receipt card to support his application, an INS agent said in the charging papers. It wasn't clear what identification N'Goran offered. Representatives of Aircraft Service International Group, based in Orlando, didn't respond to inquiries yesterday.
A spokesman for LSG Sky Chefs, Bill Slay, said that since Sept. 11 his company has voluntarily submitted the names of its employees to the FBI for criminal-history checks.
LSG, which is based in Arlington, Texas, and operates at other airports, also has used INS hotlines set up since Sept. 11 to identify INS violators, he said.
"All the extra precautions that can be taken ... have been done," he said.
Bob Parker, a Port of Seattle spokesman, said security badges are only issued for areas in which contract workers need to work.
"Nobody goes and wanders through the airport," he said.
N'Goran has been in the United States since 1993 and Ortiz-Alvarez since 1995, both on visitor visas that expired after six months.
Before working at the airport both were employed in various jobs, said Salazar, their attorney.
The plea deals offered to them are the same as one accepted in November by a former security screener at Sea-Tac airport, who faced deportation to Colombia after pleading guilty to an immigration charge.
All three cases represent the first time in his 27 years of practice in Seattle that federal prosecutors in Western Washington have invoked a statute requiring aliens to register with the INS within 30 days, Salazar said.
But prosecutors have used the statute since Sept. 11, citing changed circumstances since the attacks.
It looks like Bush is waiting for the heat from 9/11 to die down, so he can grant his amnesty.
What were these two illegals being paid to do these jobs? So much for the administration's claim that illegals are taking jobs that Americans don't want.
The Americans that applied for these jobs and that didn't get them should sue these airports for damages.
Careful! The Bush-Bots are viscious when they attack!
The notion that we have a right to say who will or won't enter the country, and from where, and who will live among us, is considered totally invalid by them.
Seattle is a liberal dream word; I thought NYS sucked, not by comparison.
prambo
not.
Ortiz-Alverez worked since December 2000 for LSG Sky Chefs, which provides food and beverage services for most of the major carriers.
OK, let's see if I've got this right: these are the jobs that Americans don't want? Anybody know what the pay is for these job?
Well folks, I bet this makes you want to fly on your next vacation or business trip, huh? As your taking off, speeding down the runway at 150 miles per hour, loaded with fuel, try and imagine who fueled the plane? Who loaded the baggage? Who last cleaned the aircraft?
This f-ing crap is going to get Americans killed. These people are using counterfeit papers, lying on applications and God knows what else. And *NOW* they are possibly going to award these criminals with asylum?
The other criminal *promises* to leave within four months????
All this while our borders continue to bleed?
Where is the outrage?? Where in hell is our leadership???
THE IMMIGRATION "FREE FOR ALL" CONTINUES.
N'Goran was hired last July as a fueler at Aircraft Service International Group, which provides fueling services for most of the major airlines at Sea-Tac airport, according to the charging papers. Ortiz-Alverez worked since December 2000 for LSG Sky Chefs, which provides food and beverage services for most of the major carriers.
OK, let's see if I've got this right: these are the jobs that Americans don't want? Anybody know what the pay is for these job?
Neither. Just Informed.
You don't need to lie to have top secret clearance as a traitor and be hired. Heck, if you are a black muslim with allegiance to Osama, everyone will fight to take you under the affirmative action program and threats from lawsuits from various communist law firms such as the People's court in Chicago or orgs like the ACLU and affiliates.
What a joke this is. The only “Battleground” between the 2 parities is how much of America's sovereignty they can give away to illegal aliens in return for their votes. Instead of combating illegal immigration the administration's solution is to perversely encourage more illegal immigration and saddle law abiding Americans with all the costs. Our government has demonstrated time and again that it is NOT concerned with the safety and welfare of its very own citizens where immigration is concerned. It only responds to money and votes and it doesn't matter if either are legal or constitutional.
If this is compassionate conservatism you can have it.
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