Arrested illegal alien worked as National Airport custodian
Arrested illegal immigrant worked as National Airport custodian
By: Freeman Klopott
Examiner Staff Writer
May 13, 2010
An illegal immigrant from Bolivia had security clearance and was working as a custodian at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport when he was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials for claiming he was a U.S. citizen while applying for additional security credentials.
Juan Sejas was taken into custody at Washington Dulles International Airport by CBP officials after he provided them with an allegedly fake Puerto Rican birth certificate and Social Security card. Sejas was seeking a CBP certificate that would allow him into the International Operations Division. The certificate, authorities said, would have given him further access to secure areas.
After his May 6 arrest, the 51-year-old told CBP officials that he had voted in Virginia in the 2008 presidential election, court documents said. He obtained a voter registration card using the documents he presented to get the job at Reagan National airport.
Sejas' attorney declined to comment. Sejas has been charged with falsely claiming U.S. citizenship.
Sejas started his airport job in late 2008, said Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority spokeswoman Courtney Mickalonis. As a custodian with an employee identification card, Sejas was not required to go through security checkpoints, she said. He skipped the security check regularly to get to the terminals he was hired to clean.
To get the job, Sejas had to provide two forms of identification, provide his fingerprints for a criminal history check and pass a Transportation Security Administration threat assessment, Mickalonis said.
Court documents said Sejas used the fake birth certificate and Social Security card, which he bought for $900, to obtain an ID from the Rhode Island department of motor vehicles. Mickalonis said he presented the Rhode Island ID and the Social Security card when he applied for the job.
"The documents he presented appeared to be valid," she said.
The criminal check did not include running Sejas' fingerprints through an immigration database, and Sejas was able to clear it, Mickalonis said.
A TSA spokesman could not immediately comment.
A CBP spokesman said Sejas snuck across the U.S.-Mexico border in 2006 and bought the IDs from a "human trafficker."
When authorities searched Sejas they found the Rhode Island identification card, his Reagan National airport employee ID card and the voter registration card, court documents said.
"One thing that we find most remarkable is that Sejas, who knew that he was an illegal alien, still risked presenting himself for CBP security," said Christopher Hess, CBP director of the Port of Washington, D.C.
The CBP officer to whom Sejas presented his fake IDs became suspicious of the documents, authorities said. He called over another officer, who is from Puerto Rico, and she asked Sejas specific questions about the U.S. territory. Sejas couldn't answer the questions, and he reportedly told the officers that "he just wanted to work and that he didn't want any problem," court documents said.
"Customs and Border Protection officers are proficient at detecting fraudulent identity documents and easily determined that Sejas' Puerto Rican birth certificate is a suspected fake," Hess said. "This expertise is a significant deterrent to keeping illegal aliens, narco-traffickers and terrorists away from airport employment positions that could facilitate the smuggling of humans, weapons, currency or narcotics into the United States, and it helps keep airline passengers safe."
Sejas has been held without bail and an immigration warrant has been issued for him. A CBP spokesman said Sejas likely will be deported.
fklopott@washingtonexaminer.com
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