Illegal Immigrant Works in Airport Security for Over 20 Years

Story first appeared in The Associated Press.

For 20 years, co-workers on the security team at one of the nation's busiest airports knew him as Jerry Thomas. His real name has not been disclosed, but the man has been confirmed as a Nigerian who used the name of a murder victim to hide his status as an illegal immigrant.

Though there's no indication of any other intent or transgressions, the revelation came the same day a federal report found that Newark Liberty International Airport mishandled security breaches.

The man worked at the airport, starting in 1992, using the name of Jerry Thomas, who was killed that year in New York City. He was arrested Monday after an anonymous tip at his home in Elizabeth and faced charges including identity theft.

His first hearing was scheduled for late Tuesday morning in state court in Newark.

It wasn't immediately known how Thomas' personal information was acquired. Police in New York also didn't say whether he was a suspect in the July 20, 1992, killing of Thomas in Queens.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the area's main airports and other transit hubs, said he had entered the United States illegally in 1989 and had worked under several contractors at the airport, most recently FJC Security Services, and supervised about 30 guards. The agency said its investigation found no indication that he used the fake identity for any reason other than to live in the United States.

Port Authority leaders had spoken with FJC officials and will meet with them in the coming days to take every legally permissible step to recheck their security personnel on a regular basis and to protect our customers, employees and facilities.

FJC Security, which received an airport contract in 2003, said it conducted a background check on the guard as had New Jersey state police and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

In all cases, he passed the background checks. During his time with FJC, he had nothing in his record or his performance to indicate a cause for concern or a reason to question the state police and federal government's background checks. In his position as tour supervisor, didn't have access to employees' personal information.

TSA said it was reviewing the Port Authority's procedures for validating employee and contractor documents, according to a Raleigh Immigration Lawyer.

This investigation indicates that the individual's identification documents were presented to the Port Authority for verification about a decade before TSA existed.

The state police spokesman said New Jersey requires security guards to undergo training under the Security Officer Registration Act and be fingerprinted. The fingerprints are run through the state police criminal history database before a guard is certified.

A candidate is disqualified if he or she has a conviction for a fourth-degree offense or higher or a drug offense of any level.

An airport employee who was familiar with the man as Thomas said the private security guards he supervised are responsible for manning TSA security checkpoints after passenger gates close for the evening and before they reopen in the morning. The guards also inspect delivery vehicles for possible unauthorized cargo, he said, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the matter.

A report released Monday by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General found that only 42 percent of reported security breaches from January 2010 to May 2011 led to corrective action, though it also found TSA had worked to improve its response.

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Arizona Traffic Stops End in Detention for Some

Story first appeared in The Wall Street Journal.

A week after Supreme Court arguments over Arizona's illegal-immigration law, the arrest, detention and subsequent release of an undocumented woman following a traffic stop added a real-world example to the courtroom debate about how the statute could play out.

The woman, who is married to an American soldier and is in the process of legalizing her U.S. residency, was pulled over Tuesday for making an illegal turn, and sent to immigration authorities when she couldn't produce a driver's license or Social Security card requested by a sheriff's deputy. Federal authorities released her late Thursday after she had spent two nights in detention, according to Raleigh Immigration Lawyers.

Arizona's law, enacted in 2010 and tangled up in court ever since, would give local police the power to check the immigration status of anyone they lawfully stop. People who cannot prove they are in the U.S. legally are detained, and federal immigration authorities are notified.

The Obama administration, challenging the Arizona law, argued before a skeptical court that the state exceeded its powers by directing police to enforce immigration law, traditionally the purview of the federal government. Arizona's lawyer and some Justices suggested the state was merely picking up illegal immigrants and turning them over to the federal government, which then could decide what to do with them.

This case shows how hard it is for state law-enforcement officials to determine someone's immigration status. Arizona's lawyer told the Supreme Court that it could be done in 10 or 11 minutes. In this case, it took three days for federal authorities to figure it out, stated Miami Immigration Lawyers.

Following the court hearings, the Obama administration announced illegal immigrants wouldn't be placed in deportation proceedings merely for a traffic violation, part of continuing efforts to devote resources to deporting foreigners who have committed serious crimes. In 2010, it unveiled a policy that put illegal immigrants who are immediate relatives of U.S. military personnel on a faster track to legal permanent residency than other applicants in the U.S. illegally.

The undocumented woman, a resident of Bullhead City, was brought to the U.S. illegally from Mexico at the age of four, according to her and her family's attorney. She grew up in Arizona and married Guillermo Garcia, a U.S. citizen, four years ago.

Her husband is currently in Vilseck, Germany, with the 2nd Cavalry Regiment.

The family's attorney said he filed an application in March based on her marriage to a soldier but hasn't heard back. A spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said the agency doesn't comment on specific cases.

On Tuesday, the woman was on the way to buy supplies for her three-year-old daughter's birthday party when she made an illegal turn. Suspecting she was here illegally, the sheriff's deputy took her into custody and turned her over to a border-patrol agent.

Her husband said he got a call from his family on Tuesday informing him that his wife had been arrested. Up all night, he said he wrote a letter to his congressman and contacted his lawyer. A public information specialist for the Mohave County Sheriff's Office said that is is not relavent that her husband is in the military, she was determined to be an illegal immigrant.

The woman said the border-patrol agent transported her to a station in Blythe, Calif., and then to Yuma, Ariz., where she was offered voluntary, expedited removal to Mexico. She declined the offer. U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued her a notice to appear in court for a removal hearing.

After spending two nights in cells with two other immigrant women, she said, the three were transported Thursday morning to Eloy detention center, a facility several hours away that contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

When he learned she was there, her husband called the facility and explained that he was "within hours of deployment." He said he was told to "call back later." He wasn't allowed to speak with his wife. The next day, he said, an officer told him she would be released.

A spokesman for Customs and Border Protection said the agency doesn't comment on specific cases.

ICE said she was released "after the agency verified that she had no criminal history and is married to an active-duty U.S. service member." It added that it revoked the notice to appear for a deportation hearing.


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Silent Raids Crack Down on Illegal Workers

Story first appeared in The Wall Street Journal.

The Department of Homeland Security, continuing its crackdown on employers who hire illegal immigrants, has ordered hundreds of companies in recent weeks to submit their hiring records for inspection.

This year's first "silent raids" haven't been publicly announced by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the DHS agency that conducts them. But an ICE spokeswoman confirmed on Tuesday that as of March 29, the agency had notified 500 businesses of all sizes and types to turn over I-9 employment-eligibility forms and other documents for audits.

These inspections will determine whether or not the businesses are complying with their employment-eligibility verification requirements. No one industry is targeted, nor is any one industry immune from scrutiny. The government doesn't divulge the names of companies under investigation.

Since January 2009, the Obama administration has audited at least 7,533 employers suspected of hiring illegal labor and imposed about $100 million in administrative and criminal fines—more audits and penalties than were imposed during the entire George W. Bush administration. The latest penalty hit HerbCo International Inc., a big Washington state-based supplier of organic herbs, which agreed Tuesday to pay $1 million in fines for employing illegal immigrants and then rehiring some of them after an ICE audit last year.

President Barack Obama is walking a fine line as he turns up the heat on companies that hire illegal immigrants and at the same time courts Hispanic voters, many of whom oppose a crackdown. While the audits don't lead to the deportation of a firm's illegal workers, they all lose their jobs. Critics of the crackdown say it drives more immigrants to exploitative, off-the-books work. For firms, the audits can lead to deep losses in productivity, in addition to civil and criminal fines.

The president is trying to have it both ways—appease the enforcement hard-liners while appealing to Hispanic voters. The audits routinely hit good employers who treat workers well, leaving crippled farms and shattered families in their wake.

The audits are most visible when they hit high-profile fast-food chains, hotels and agricultural concerns. But the inspections have also affected light manufacturers, financial-services firms and the garment industry.

The expanding rate and reach of I-9 audits is starting to chip away at the perception that only the most egregious employers are at risk of an enforcement action by ICE. Companies in all industries need to be vigilant.

ICE's Washington headquarters confirmed it has instructed regional field offices to dedicate a specific number of hours to initiating audits. For instance, an ICE agent this year told several grower labor conferences in Michigan that each field agent had been instructed to devote 250 hours to audits this year, several people in attendance said.

A Michigan Farm Bureau manager who was at the events, said the agent also told the group to expect a 40% increase in the number of employers inspected this year. There is no question there has been a steady increase in audits.

ICE declined to provide details of audit quotas. But the agency spokeswoman, said performance goals had been set for each of its 26 field offices to ensure the best use of taxpayer dollars.

Raleigh Immigration Lawyers who advise audited companies report that some employers are being subjected to a second audit.

At a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, a California Senator voiced concern to the Homeland Security Secretary that I-9 audits are going to decimate our farms and farm-dependent jobs.

The House Judiciary Committee Chairman said Tuesday that ICE audits point to an underlying issue: The current paper-based I-9 system is unreliable and outdated. Because fake documents are produced by the millions and can be obtained cheaply, the I-9 system is susceptible to fraud. We should replace this outdated system with E-Verify, a successful Web-based program that quickly identifies illegal immigrants working in the U.S. and protects jobs for legal workers.

On the nation's farms, the overwhelming majority of laborers are illegal immigrants, according to the Department of Labor. Farmers in Michigan, who rely on 45,000 seasonal workers to pick apples, berries and other crops, say they're bracing for audits as the harvest begins.

An audit would force Michigan farmers to fire 70% to 80% of their workers. The people working the fields and harvesting the crops that feed our nation need work authorization.

The surge in enforcement activity and the lack of an immigration overhaul risk undermining U.S. agriculture and the nation's food security.


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