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.
I'm afraid they are all bought and paid for my friend. Stupid us for thinking that 9/11 would result in a strict enforcement of the already "lax" immigration laws in this country. This further convinces me that there we are beyond the point of controlling immigration anymore.
Excellent point Reg. Whatever happened to a Government "Of the People", “By the People” and “For the People”? I believe it is time that "World" be inserted where “People” was. Who would have ever thought that things in America could get this bad? Where citizens are silenced or kept in the dark as the government allows an invasion of 3rd world peoples then hustles for their votes and PAC money. Our government has become totally corrupted from top to bottom and nothing, I mean nothing, would surprise me anymore. If America falls, it will be because of decades of government sponsored reckless immigration.
Bump for a great post.
I am almost there.
We are all exasperated and/or angered, shocked, depressed etc. with the ongoing insanity of our government’s reckless immigration policies. You might like this, just 5 minutes ago I got a call from the RNC asking of course for more money and I had the pleasure of telling the woman on the other end of the line that I would not support the RNC anymore as long as Bush & Co. pursue Amnesty for illegals and don't do anything about our immigration crisis. To my surprise she put up no counter argument and quickly hung up. I wonder if she has been hearing similar responses from other "former" republican contributors...Hope So.
Lurching for one disaster to another is par for the course with the republicans--the eternally “stupid” party. Apparently they don't care about their conservative constituency either.
There are going to be more of these 'aliens got clearance' stories. On another thread, a guy who didn't want to say 'how he knew' said that all the records at major airports were being gone through, and that things were going to happen. Appears he was right.
I would hope so. In July of 2001, I reported a possible pair at the Charlotte NC airport to the FAA CASFO (Civil Aviation Security Field Office). All I got from them was, 'now how do you know they was illegal aliens'? Answer: I don't. But when I guy is standing there in a uniform with a SIDA clearance badge, and he can't speak English, I know something's up. His buddy was translating for him. The FedPerson mumbled something about "we'll look into it" and hung up. Three months later when I called them back (oh, about sep. 15), they were all ears. Kinda late....
You got it Reg. American citizenship means little today aside from specifying that broad group of people that have to follow whatever laws or regulations our masters in government hand down--or else. Illegals like you said can vote in our elections, they get whatever kind of welfare and subsidies they demand, they can break one law after another and pay no penalty and oh, you can't deport them either. The Americans of this land should have such a deal.
My only confusion is why they are still referred to as illegal aliens? Opps my mistake, they are now "undocumented migrants that are in the process of regularization" per Bush Administration. Gee, I wonder when illegals from Middle East countries get this deal. We can’t exclude them from regularization because to exclude is to not be multicultural.
All it takes is for Bush to say the word. But he won't!!
Another thing is these plea bargains. In many cases, people are getting off the hook with a fraction of the punishment they deserve. That needs to be stopped.
Good for you. I wish they would call me so I could tell them the same thing. I have already said that will not contribute one dollar or donate one minute of my time for Bush in 2004 unless he changes his immigration policy.
If he is more interested in their pesos than my dollars, he can have them.
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