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http://www.ice.gov/graphics/news/newsreleases/articles/050623chicago.htm
News Release
June 23, 2005
ILLEGAL ALIENS WITH HAZMAT LICENSES ARRESTED
Multi-agency investigation closes security vulnerabilities
CHICAGO—Six illegal aliens who had been issued Illinois commercial drivers licenses with hazardous material endorsements have been arrested in the last two weeks as a result of an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Transportation and the Illinois Secretary of State Police.
All six men have been placed in deportation proceedings. A seventh man was also arrested during the investigation and is being criminally charged by the State of Illinois for falsely applying for and obtaining a drivers license. He too will face deportation upon resolution of the state charges. Those arrested are from Belize, Jordan (2), Mexico, Mongolia and the Philippines (2).
“This cooperative law enforcement effort has closed a security vulnerability that might have resulted in dire consequences,” said Special Agent-in-Charge Elissa Brown of the Chicago ICE office. “This is a national security issue. Illegal aliens should not have the freedom to transport hazardous materials throughout the United States.”
The commercial drivers licenses of those arrested were issued by the State of Illinois prior to July 2004. Since then, procedures for obtaining an Illinois drivers license have been tightened. The state now cross-references the names, dates of birth and social security numbers of applicants to ensure they match. In addition, Illinois now uses 12-point facial recognition technology to search databases for duplicate licenses and identification cards.
The Social Security Administration has also tightened procedures affecting the issuance of drivers licenses since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The Social Security Administration now requires certification from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) before issuing social security numbers—which are required to obtain an Illinois drivers license—to aliens in the U.S. on temporary visas.
“With the Secretary of Transportation's full support, we have made combating CDL fraud one of our top priorities, and have conducted investigations in 23 states since 2000,” said Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Craig Singleton of the Chicago Region Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General. “As we previously reported, given all of the potential implications to safety and security, it is important to ensure that those obtaining commercial drivers licenses with a hazmat endorsement demonstrate citizenship or legal presence.”
In addition to those arrested, ICE agents are seeking 10 additional individuals they believe are in the U.S. illegally and who possess Illinois drivers licenses with hazardous materials endorsements.
This investigation was carried out in coordination with the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Hazmat Threat Assessment Program. This program screens commercial drivers with hazardous materials endorsements for potential terrorist threats.
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See post no. 1971 also.
http://www.ice.gov/graphics/news/newsreleases/articles/050623chicago.htm
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http://www.ice.gov/graphics/news/newsreleases/articles/050623washington.htm
News Release
June 23, 2005
ICE ARRESTS ILLEGAL ALIENS IN 3 STATES WHO HAD HAZMAT LICENSES, COMMERCIAL DRIVER’S LICENSES OR DRIVER’S LICENSES
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today announced the arrest of 27 illegal aliens in Illinois, Maryland and Missouri in recent days who possessed valid state licenses to transport hazardous materials, state commercial driver’s licenses to drive trucks or state driver’s licenses.
The arrests announced today follow previous ICE enforcement actions in Florida, Michigan, and Maryland in which more than 100 individuals have been arrested in connection with fraud schemes that enabled illegal aliens to obtain valid hazardous materials licenses, commercial driver’s licenses and/or driver’s licenses through respective state Departments of Motor Vehicles (DMVs).
In Illinois, ICE agents arrested six illegal aliens during the past two weeks who had been issued valid Illinois state commercial driver’s licenses with hazardous materials endorsements. The arrests were the result of a joint investigation conducted by ICE, the Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the Illinois Secretary of State Police.
ICE has placed all six individuals in removal proceedings. A seventh man was also arrested during the investigation and is being criminally charged by the State of Illinois for falsely applying for and obtaining a driver’s license. This individual will also face deportation upon resolution of the state charges. The seven illegal aliens arrested are from Belize, Jordan (2), Mexico, Mongolia, and the Philippines (2).
“This cooperative law enforcement effort has closed a security vulnerability that might have resulted in dire consequences,” said Elissa Brown, Special Agent-in-Charge of the ICE Chicago Office of Investigations. “This is a national security issue. Illegal aliens should not have the freedom to transport hazardous materials throughout the United States.”
In Maryland, a federal grand jury in Baltimore returned a criminal indictment on June 21 against Mansoor Hassan, an illegal alien from Pakistan and a driver of gasoline tanker trucks for Exxon, on six counts of making false statements about his citizenship in order to gain employment with different gas companies.
In 1996, an Immigration Judge had ordered Hassan to depart the country, but allowed him to do so voluntarily. Hassan never left the country and soon obtained a commercial driver’s license from the state of Maryland to drive gas tanker trucks. ICE agents recently learned that Hassan was working as a gas tanker truck driver for Exxon in Baltimore and arrested him on May 18, 2005. Upon his arrest, Hassan’s commercial driver’s license was revoked. He is scheduled to make an initial court appearance on July 1, 2005.
In Missouri, ICE agents and other law enforcement officers this week arrested 19 illegal aliens who had fraudulently applied for Missouri driver's licenses using legitimate birth certificates from U.S. citizens. Twelve men and seven women were arrested in the two-day operation that ended on June 21. Those arrested, who are ineligible to obtain drivers licenses, are citizens of El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico.
The Missouri Department of Revenue requested ICE assistance with this operation since the individuals requesting these driver's licenses were believed to be illegal aliens and not U.S. citizens. Law enforcement officials believe that these aliens illegally resided in other states and traveled to Missouri carrying legitimate birth certificates from people who live in Puerto Rico (10), California (4) and Texas (5). The aliens would then fraudulently present the U.S. birth certificates as their own and apply for Missouri driver's licenses. These aliens currently resided in and traveled from Kansas, Iowa, Michigan and Nebraska.
“This operation plugged a major hole in the ability to fraudulently obtain legitimate identification that would be accepted around the country," said Elissa Brown, ICE Chicago special agent-in-charge. "ICE routinely works with all varieties of law enforcement agencies to help secure identity documents, which is a national security concern."
These arrests come on the heels of previous ICE enforcement actions in Florida, Michigan, and Maryland that uncovered fraud schemes enabling illegal aliens to obtain valid hazardous materials licenses, commercial driver’s licenses and/or driver’s licenses.
To date, ICE agents in Florida have arrested more than 100 individuals, including 3 Florida Department of Motor Vehicles examiners, 5 middlemen, and a large number of illegal aliens, in a massive driver's license fraud scheme that was first announced in April 2005. The three Florida DMV employees were accused of providing valid driver's licenses, commercial licenses and HAZMAT licenses, to more than 2,000 illegal aliens for a fee. Thus far, ICE agents have identified 21 illegal aliens who obtained Florida commercial driver’s licenses and 13 illegal aliens who obtained Florida hazardous material licenses. The illegal aliens are believed to have spent between $1,500 and $3,000 to purchase commercial driver's licenses. Some of the driver's licenses went for between $100 and $200. A number of those who illegally purchased the commercial driver's licenses and HAZMAT licenses had criminal histories, including Driving While Intoxicated, reckless driving, resisting arrest, burglary, battery, weapons charges, and drug charges. None of them had the requisite training for operating commercial trucks or HAZMAT vehicles. According to preliminary info from the Florida Highway Patrol, there have been at least 11 auto accidents associated with those individuals who illegally obtained the commercial driver's licenses.
On April 22, 2005, ICE agents arrested three Marylanders today for a scheme to fraudulently obtain Maryland state identification cards. Arrested was Hyattsville resident Dodson Robey, 34, and Silver Spring residents Margentina Esther Pinilla, 41, and Valentin Roosevelt Milstein, 59. According to a criminal complaint, the three allegedly conspired to knowingly transfer fraudulent identification documents to more than 100 illegal aliens. At the time of their arrests, Robey worked a the Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) located at 11760 Baltimore Ave., Beltsville, Md., and Milstein operated Val's Driving School, a business located in Wheaton, Md. Pinilla, a former employee of the MVA, allegedly recruited individuals who paid her a fee for Robey to produce the fraudulent cards for them. The complaint alleges that from Aug. 31, 2004 to Feb. 16, 2005, in return for the payment of more than $1,000 per applicant, the defendants agreed to provide fraudulent MVA documents to various applicants --many of them illegal aliens-- who sought MVA identification cards or driver's licenses without showing the documentation required under Maryland law. Robey is alleged to have provided more than 100 identification documents in violation of MVA policy.
On April 20, 2005, ICE agents in Michigan, assisted by U.S. Postal Inspectors, arrested four individuals, Ali Hail, Daher Al-Mayahi, Barbara Wilke, and Mohamad Barry, and seized more than $20,000 and a variety of document-production equipment, as part of an ongoing investigation into the production and trafficking of fraudulent State of Michigan driver's licenses, U.S. Visas, foreign passports and Social Security cards. Hundreds of illegal aliens received driver's licenses through the scheme. According to court documents, the investigation began after U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers seized a number of blank Guinea driver's licenses en route to Ali Hawil. An undercover ICE agent, posing as an Iraqi arms dealer with an Afghan passport, made contact with Hawil, who then arranged a meeting with Al-Mayahi. Al Mayahi demanded several hundred dollars for the driver's license - something Al Mayahi said he had done "a thousand times” according to court documents.
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