Who's watching the White House? (Michelle Malkin)

TownHall.com ^ | 1/03/03 | Michelle Malkin

[kattracks]

If you thought the New Year's Eve FBI manhunt for illegal aliens with fake passports was a disturbing sign of homeland insecurity, wait until you hear about who's been working on President George W. Bush's front lawn.

While the Secret Service has now instituted criminal and citizenship screening procedures for all tourists (including children) who visit the White House, federal agents failed to detect an illegal alien who used a false identity and fraudulent documents and was employed for at least two years as a supervisor of tent installation for White House social events.

This illegal alien had been ordered kicked out of the country by the Immigration and Naturalization Service in February 2000, but was able to evade the law and fool both his employer and the Secret Service through petty identity fraud. He was finally caught at the U.S.-Mexico border last month, but it was no thanks to the law enforcement agents in Washington who are assigned to protect the White House from unknown intruders.

Posing as "Kelvin Rodriguez," a Mexican citizen named Salvador Martinez-Gonzalez worked for HDO Productions Inc., which bills itself as "the nation's most respected provider of special event tent and accessory rentals." The company designs elaborate outdoor settings for galas, weddings and government functions.

Martinez-Gonzalez had access to the White House grounds, the Pentagon and NASA, and rubbed elbows with Washington's most powerful officials -- from former President Bill Clinton to current Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne. Martinez-Gonzalez kept festive photos of himself with Clinton and the Cheneys as souvenirs to show off his insider access.

On Dec. 2, 2002, according to a Justice Department intelligence report I obtained, Martinez-Gonzalez tried to return to the U.S. from a trip to Mexico. He showed up at the Laredo, Texas, port of entry claiming to be a U.S. citizen and provided inspectors with the photos of himself with Clinton and the Cheneys. A routine fingerprint and immigration database check showed that he had been apprehended in Brownsville, Texas, two years ago, and at that time was ordered to leave the country. He should have been immediately detained for fraudulent entry and kicked out.

But Martinez-Gonzalez was neither detained nor removed from the U.S., as required by federal law. Instead, immigration officials learned, Martinez-Gonzalez was freed and purchased a birth certificate from the real Kelvin Rodriguez, a Puerto Rican national who lent his identity to Martinez-Gonzalez. According to the intelligence report, Rodriguez helped Martinez-Gonzalez obtain a U.S. Social Security card, Maryland driver's license and a U.S. passport.

According to the report, Martinez-Gonzalez/"Rodriguez" moved to the Maryland suburbs and began to work for HDO Productions. An Associated Press article shows that the company had past problems with illegal labor at the White House. In the summer of 1998, immigration officials arrested two Mexican nationals who worked for HDO Productions and were trying to gain access to the White House grounds using fake alien registration cards. Secret Service officers detained them after they presented the fake documents. The U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia authorized prosecution for possession of fraudulent documents, and the two workers were reportedly deported.

As for Martinez-Gonzalez/"Rodriguez," he left HDO Productions sometime in the fall. Company president Jerry O'Connell said he was not aware of any immigration problems and that Martinez-Gonzalez/"Rodriguez's" departure had nothing to do with immigration-related fraud.

According to the DOJ intelligence report, the FBI and Secret Service were both contacted by immigration investigators for further interviewing of this illegal alien impostor. But an FBI spokesman in Washington, D.C., said he was unfamiliar with the case. My calls to the White House were unreturned. The Secret Service refused to comment.

Hopefully, President Bush will have better luck getting answers. For if his own guardians can't keep low-level, illegal border-crossing identity impostors out of the White House backyard, how in the world can we count on his administration to keep far more sophisticated, illegal alien evildoers -- like the five that President Bush personally ordered hunted down last week -- out of ours?

©2002 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

Contact Michelle Malkin | Read her biography

[ShuShu]

"How would you like to see his tax return? He probably claimed enough dependents to qualify for a complete refund of all income tax paid and an 'earned income tax credit' check on top of that. Think the U.S. Taxpayers made the down-payment on his house and gave him a home loan at 1% or 2% below market?"

I wouldn't be a bit surprised Freedom! Though the poor fella probably missed out on the EITC....life is rough!

[4Freedom]

"...life is rough."

Not so rough for an 'illegal alien opportunist'.

LOL!

[WRhine]

After 100 years of One-World Globalism, Bushism, our great-great-grandchildren will be living back in the 'dark ages', again.

Well my friend you know what they say about opinions. We can only see trends, not the future. Who knows if the Globalists will even succeed in getting their dark age plans for world government off the ground? I was just going back to my original point that there will be historians around in the future after the Global Bust (if it doesn't blow up on the launch pad) that will wonder how it ever happened when America had nothing to gain and everything to lose.

[Barnacle]

Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Navigating the treacherous
waters of a liberal culture.

[gared]

They already have, see the UN and the WTO

[gared]

How is it that there are KNOWN companies that employ illegals? Shouldn't these companies be shut down as they, as employers of illegals are breaking the law? Do we simply create lists of criminals instead of dealing with them now? I think, unfortunately, the answer is yes.

[gared]

This is classing us as slaves that need to be numbered and noted for Bush to control, NO.

[gared]

This is classing us as slaves that need to be numbered and noted for Bush to control, NO.

[gared]

This is classing us as slaves that need to be numbered and noted for Bush to control, NO.

[gared]

This is classing us as slaves that need to be numbered and noted for Bush to control, NO.

[gared]

That's a really stupid thing to say, our enemies are all who attack america! This means that if mexican people are shooting at US border patrol they ARE our enemies, you're religious profiling is bigotry, assuming all muslims are the same, bad, and therefore all others are good? Don't be such a fool.