Thread: Border Official Hired Illegal Immigrants

Affidavit:Border official hired illegal immigrants


The Associated Press
Edition Date: 12/05/08

BOSTON — A top Homeland Security official in Boston has been accused of repeatedly hiring illegal immigrants to clean her home.

Lorraine Henderson, the regional director of Homeland Security, Customs, and Border Protection, was arrested Friday at her home in Salem. She was expected to appear in federal court later Friday.

Henderson is responsible for stopping illegal aliens from entering the country through the Port of Boston.

But according to an affidavit, for several years Henderson employed a Brazilian housekeeper who was an illegal immigrant. She also allegedly hired two other illegal immigrants, even after fellow agents warned her it was against the law.

Henderson was arrested after one of the women wore a wire and recorded Henderson telling the woman to "be careful" because once you're deported, "you will never be back."

http://www.idahostatesman.com/apusnews/ ... 94644.html

Lorraine Henderson needs to go to prison. And she needs to pay back all of her salary. WHAT A TRAITOR!

Homeland Security
Way to go Lorraine Henderson Do you think you deserve the title of STUPID!!!!

Well their was no ignorance of the law in this case.

I wonder how ICE managed to find and turn the maid. Lorraine Henderson would have known about the Michael Bianco raid ahead of time because some of her poeople were called into participate. I would like for Massachusetts Citizens for Immigration Reform to get on this. It shows the sort of problems that we have.

They must have updated this story:

Border official accused of hiring illegal workers

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AP Photo
Boston Area Port Director Lorraine Henderson departs federal court following an initial appearance, in Boston, Friday, Dec. 5, 2008. Henderson, a top federal Homeland Security official, was arrested Friday at her home in Salem, Mass., and has been accused of repeatedly hiring illegal immigrants to clean her home.

AP Photo
Lorraine Henderson, center, a top Homeland Security official in Boston, departs federal court following an initial appearance, in Boston, Friday, Dec. 5, 2008. Henderson, who acts as Boston Area Port Director, was arrested Friday at her home in Salem, Mass., and has been accused of repeatedly hiring illegal immigrants to clean her home. Man at right is unidentified.
By DENISE LAVOIE - Associated Press Writer
Edition Date: 12/05/08

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BOSTON — A top Homeland Security official in Boston was accused Friday of repeatedly hiring illegal immigrants to clean her home, even warning one not to leave the country "'cause once you leave, you will never be back."

Lorraine Henderson, the regional director of Homeland Security, Customs, and Border Protection, was arrested Friday at her home in Salem. She was charged with harboring an illegal alien and ordered released on $25,000 unsecured bond during an initial appearance in federal court. She was expected to appear in federal court in Boston later Friday on a charge of harboring an illegal alien.

If convicted, Henderson faces up to 10 years in prison. She declined to comment after her court appearance.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office said Henderson has been placed on paid administrative leave, pending a decision next week on whether she will be suspended without pay.

Ted Woo, a spokesman for Customs and Border Protection, said Henderson has worked for the agency formerly known as U.S. Customs Services for 33 years. She has been the Boston Area Port Director for five years, he said.

As part of her duties as port director, Henderson is responsible for stopping illegal immigrants from entering the country through all air and sea international ports in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. She also commands 190 armed and uniformed border protection officers.

"For any member of Customs and Border Protection to allegedly compromise their authority, and the security of our international ports of entry - violating the same immigration laws that they are charged with upholding - is unconscionable," U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said in a statement.

According to an eight-page affidavit, Henderson employed a Brazilian housekeeper who was an illegal immigrant for several years, paying her between $75 and $80 per visit, less than a legal cleaning service costs. She also allegedly hired two other illegal immigrants when the woman took time off to have a baby, even after a fellow agent warned her what she was doing was against the law.

The affidavit states that in 2004, Henderson recommended her housekeeper to a fellow officer, who learned the next year that the woman was in the country illegally after paying thousands of dollars to enter the U.S. over the Mexican border.

The officer told the housekeeper she couldn't work for her and confronted Henderson during a ride home in 2006, telling her it was illegal to continue to employ the woman. According to the affidavit, Henderson told the officer she was never home when the woman cleaned and communicated with her only by note or telephone - not in person.

Two years later, the officer learned Henderson was still employing the housekeeper and reported Henderson to a supervisor, the affidavit states.

The housekeeper was then interviewed by a Customs agent and agreed to wear a wire and record calls to Henderson. During one meeting in September, the woman told Henderson she'd come to the U.S. without a visa and just stayed, according to the affidavit.

Henderson warned, "Wow, wow, if you leave they won't let you back ... you can't leave, don't leave ... 'cause once you leave you will never be back," according to the affidavit.

The woman cleaned Henderson's home three times after that meeting.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John McNeil would not comment after the court hearing on the immigration status of the three illegal immigrants who are witnesses against Henderson, or say whether they were in custody.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/apusnews/ ... 94644.html

Border security official charged
Allegedly hired illegal workers Oversaw guards at local ports
Lorraine Henderson left the federal courthouse yesterday. Lorraine Henderson left the federal courthouse yesterday. (Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff)
By Jonathan Saltzman
Globe Staff / December 6, 2008


The official in charge of keeping Massachusetts ports of entry free of illegal immigration and drug smuggling was arrested yesterday on charges that she repeatedly hired undocumented immigrants to clean her Salem condominium.
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Lorraine Henderson, the Boston area port director for the Customs and Border Protection Division of the US Department of Homeland Security, was arrested at her home shortly before 8 a.m. after an eight-month undercover investigation during which a cleaner wore a wire.

Federal prosecutors said Henderson - who directs 190 armed officers who oversee ports of entry in Rhode Island and Connecticut as well as Massachusetts - became a target after she ignored a warning from a fellow employee that her regular cleaner was an illegal immigrant from Brazil.

"She's supposed to be deporting aliens, not hiring them," said Assistant US Attorney Brian T. Kelly, chief of the public corruption unit.

As Boston area port director, Henderson oversees the inspection and admission of foreign nationals at sites such as Logan International Airport, T.F. Green International Airport in Rhode Island, and Bradley International Airport in Connecticut. She can also grant or deny waivers to illegal immigrants seeking to enter the country.

US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan said in a statement that it was unconscionable for any Customs and Border Protection employee to be "violating the same immigration laws that they are charged with upholding."

Looking drained after spending six hours in custody, Henderson, 50, clad in a gray sweatshirt and blue jeans, briefly appeared before US Magistrate Judge Robert B. Collings yesterday in Boston on a charge of encouraging an illegal immigrant to stay in the United States.

She was released on a $25,000 unsecured bond after saying little in court and declining to talk to reporters. As is customary when federal defendants are charged through a criminal complaint, she did not enter a plea in her initial appearance.

Oscar Cruz, a federal defender, represented Henderson at the hearing, but she said she expected to hire a private attorney. Cruz did not address the substance of the charges at the hearing.

Prosecutors characterized the case as an extraordinary example of hypocrisy by a law enforcement official. But advocates for immigration reform said it illustrated the broken nature of the immigration system and the near impossibility for ordinary Americans to avoid doing business with undocumented workers.

"There are 12 million undocumented workers in the United States, and if you buy clothes, if you buy a car, if you eat in a restaurant, you support them," said Fausto da Rocha, executive director of the Brazilian Immigrant Center in Allston.

Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum in Washington, D.C., expressed sympathy for Henderson.

"While what Lorraine Henderson did may not fit with the requirements of her job, she's obviously acting with compassion for a person she knows," he said. "That's the tragic irony of our immigration system."

If convicted, Henderson faces as much as 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Christina DiIorio-Sterling, a spokeswoman for Sullivan, did not know how often federal prosecutors bring charges of harboring illegal immigrants against individuals who have hired undocumented workers to clean their homes.

Henderson, who also temporarily oversaw border protection in Los Angeles this year, surrendered her gun, badge, and government vehicle and was placed on administrative leave, according to a spokeswoman for Sullivan.

According to an eight-page affidavit unsealed yesterday, Henderson had employed a Brazilian woman to clean her house since at least 2004 and paid her about $75 in cash each time. Henderson recommended the cleaner - who was not identified in the affidavit - to a fellow Customs and Border Protection officer, saying the worker was trustworthy and thorough.

That officer, who was also not identified, then hired the woman to clean her home once a month for about a year, paying by check, according to the affidavit.

In late 2005, the unidentified officer received a memorandum and an e-mail from Customs and Border Protection warning employees not to hire illegal immigrants while off duty. In response, the officer asked the Brazilian cleaner whether she was in the United States legally. The woman replied that she had paid thousands of dollars to enter the country illegally after crossing the border with Mexico.

As a result, the unidentified officer fired the cleaner the same day and reported the incident to her supervisor in Boston, said the affidavit. The officer alerted Henderson in winter 2006 about the cleaner's status and assumed she would fire her.

But two years later, Henderson gave the officer a ride home and told her that the woman was still cleaning her Salem home. The officer then alerted a supervisor, leading to an investigation by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Professional Responsibility.

In May, an agent from that office interviewed the cleaner, who confirmed she was an illegal immigrant and agreed to tape conversations with Henderson. During one conversation at her Salem home on Sept. 9, Henderson allegedly counseled the cleaner to avoid detection by law enforcement.

"You have to be careful 'cause they will deport you. Be careful," Henderson said, according to the affidavit. "Wow, wow, if you leave, they won't let you back. . . . You can't leave, don't leave . . . 'cause once you leave, you will never be back."

A investigator from Immigration and Customs Enforcement also interviewed two other Brazilian nationals, said the affidavit, who said they were illegal immigrants who had cleaned Henderson's home when her regular housekeeper took time off after giving birth.

Paula Grenier, a spokeswoman for ICE in Boston, whose agents arrested Henderson yesterday, said in a statement that the agency takes allegations of misconduct by employees "very seriously" and will thoroughly investigate them.

Ted Woo, a spokesman for Customs and Border Protection, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Assistant US Attorney John T. McNeil, who represented the government at the 15-minute court hearing yesterday, declined to say what has happened with the illegal immigrants who allegedly worked for Henderson and whether they will be deported.

Henderson's arrest is the latest controversy involving the hiring of illegal immigrants by government officials in Massachusetts.

Former governor Mitt Romney was dogged by stories, first reported by the Globe in December 2006, that he hired a landscaping company that employed illegal immigrants to tend to the grounds of his Belmont house. A year later, when he was running for the Republican presidential nomination, the Globe reported that he continued to use the company even though it still employed undocumented workers, prompting Romney to fire the firm.

In addition, the Globe reported in June 2006 that a company that cleaned the State Police headquarters and 18 barracks and other facilities around Massachusetts had employed scores of undocumented immigrants.

Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com
http://tinyurl.com/6xwgu3

Poll at story link or on Alipac thread:

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-139901.html

see related

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-139828.html

Added to Home PAge
http://www.alipac.us/article3799.html

Wow, makes you feel real safe.

Yes indeed she is probably guilty of treason but what has she done that is any worse than what Jorge Boosh, Juan McAmnesty, Lindsissy Grahamnesty and countless other traitors within the gubmint who are in much higher office than herself. They have shirked their duties to protect this nation from invasion, they have seemed to completely have forgotten their oaths of office and Jorge even reportedly called the founding document of this land (the constitution) just a G...D..... piece of paper. Why haven't they been arrested? They've just done it on a much more massive scale, by the tens of millions.

Now that over 10 million Americans are out of work and their are over 10 million illegal invaders working in our country, perhaps the sheeple will wake up and recognize the one thousand pound gorilla in the living room and do something about it. Given some of the election results from Nov. however, I'm not holding my breathe. It's frustrating alright, but once again, if the sheeple are gonna be stupid, they're gonna have to be tough.

Salem woman, a former Homeland Security director, is indicted
By Staff reports
Fri Feb 13, 2009, 06:05 AM EST


Salem -

(Editor’s note: This article is based on a report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.)

A Salem resident who was formerly the Boston area’s port director for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, has been indicted in U.S. District Court.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and Steven J. Mocsary, special agent in charge for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Eastern Regional Office of Professional Responsibility, announced that Lorraine Henderson, of Brittania Circle in Salem, was charged by indictment on Feb. 3.

Henderson had been suspended pending the indictment for allegedly “encouraging and inducing an illegal alien to remain in the United States.â€