Friday, Jul. 16, 2010
25 held for fake ID at Shaw
Undocumented workers were part of group slated to build command center
By JEFF WILKINSON
SUMTER —

Federal authorities detained 25 undocumented workers who tried to enter Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter with forged identification this week to help build the U.S. command center for Army ground forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The new Third Army headquarters building will contain highly sensitive communications rooms so secret that a reporter and photographer from The State touring the base for an unrelated story Thursday were not allowed enter.

Two of the workers detained Wednesday were fugitives and jailed at the Charleston County Detention Center, a spokesman for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement said. The spokesman said he did not know the charges.

The other 23 were released and will face a hearing at a later date, immigration spokesman Temple Black said.

The 25 men were hired by Palacio Drywall of Cornelius, N.C., Shaw officials said.

Efforts to reach the company were unsuccessful. But in a statement, the project’s contractor, Caddell Construction Co. of Montgomery, Ala., said it is reviewing the incident to ensure proper procedures were followed.

“We also understand that base security is conducting an investigation regarding the incident,â€