Thread: Feds Raid U.S. Coast Guard Aviation Center

http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/i ... xml&coll=3

Federal agents arrest 13 illegal immigrants
Thursday, May 25, 2006
By BRENDAN KIRBY
Staff Reporter

Federal agents raided the U.S. Coast Guard's Aviation Training Center in Mobile on Wednesday, arresting 13 workers they said were in the country illegally.

Mickey Pledger, the resident agent in charge of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Mobile, said six of the workers had no legal documentation and will be deported.

Seven more workers, who authorities said were working for construction contractors performing work on the base, appeared in federal court in Mobile on Wednesday afternoon. They are charged with possession of fake resident alien cards or Social Security numbers.

Pledger said he believes the workers were helping build an airplane hangar on the base. He said authorities have no information that the men were engaged in other crimes or terrorist activity. But he added, "Being present on that base is a national security risk, as far as I'm concerned. The whole issue is who these people are."

Court-appointed attorneys for the men, who came from Mexico, said they hoped to put their clients' cases on the fast track, allowing them to plead guilty quickly and be deported back to their home country. They disputed the contention that the workers posed a security risk.

"My opinion, and one of my clients said this in court, is they were just here trying to make a living," said Clark Stankoski, a Fairhope lawyer who represents three of the defendants.

Affidavits filed in federal court indicate that Coast Guard officials alerted immigration authorities that some of the workers for the contracting firms were presenting "questionable forms of identification" when they came on the base. For instance, according to the affidavit, one of the forms being used was a card labeled "international driver's license."

That is not a valid, government-issued form of identification, according to court records.

Pledger said immigration officers asked for identification from 50 people working at the base Wednesday. Of those, he said, 13 either had no ID or fake papers.

The Aviation Training Center is the only facility in the nation that trains Coast Guard pilots. Personnel from the base also conduct drug surveillance and assist search-and-rescue operations.

It is against federal law to knowingly hire illegal immigrants, and Pledger said his office has been under pressure to step up enforcement in the area. But he added that employers are not required to verify the authenticity of their employees' work papers. In addition, he said, there are ways contractors can further insulate themselves.

"A lot of employers in this area employ these guys as independent contractors. When they do that, they're basically absolved of all liability," he said.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, federal officials have taken a harder line toward undocumented workers with access to military installations and other sensitive facilities. In January 2005, immigration officials arrested 17 undocumented workers at a chemical refinery in Mobile.

Sweeps by federal agents last year caught six people at the Belle Chasse Naval Air Station near New Orleans.

Federal Defender Carlos Williams, who was appointed to represent four of the workers arrested Wednesday, said he does not believe any of his clients have been deported before or have criminal records. If that is the case, they would likely avoid prison time and proceed to deportation proceedings, he said.

(Staff Reporter George Werneth contributed to this report.)




© 2006 The Mobile Register
© 2006 al.com All Rights Reserved.

Must be the new catch phrase

"They just want to make a living!"

Added to Home Page.

http://www.alipac.us/article1248.html

Just simply amazes me as to how they were able to gain access to a DOD installation especially during wartime. I am retired military and I have to show my military id when I drive through even with DOD stickers on my vehicle, and these illegal aliens were on a military reservation with fake or no id's. it is a federal offense to gain access to a military installation without proper ID. The g-d damn administration should be most concerned about this as these are assets used to fight the war on terror but yet, as with everything else, El Bushero, that stupid jackass turns a blind eye. That lawyer hasn't a clue of the security risks foreign nationals pose when they are unlawfully present on a military installation especially when they violated immigration laws in the first place. Anyone, especially third world poverty cases can be bribed with the right amount of money to smuggle anything on post which can pose a serious threat to military personnel and resources.

And STILL........no arrests at TYSON?

Maybe we should send them the correct address?

An update.

http://www.al.com

Mexicans plead guilty to immigration violations
Thursday, June 29, 2006
By BRENDAN KIRBY
Staff Reporter
Five illegal immigrants who were arrested last month while working on a local Coast Guard base pleaded guilty in Mobile to federal charges Wednesday and face deportation back to Mexico.

The defendants were among 13 people working for contractors at the Aviation Training Center in Mobile on May 24 who either had no legal documentation or had fake paperwork.

U.S. District Judge Kristi DuBose accepted guilty pleas from Felipe Angel Rodriguez-Flores, 35, and Rider Luna-Velasquez, 27, for possession of phony green cards. She sentenced them to the approximately one month they already have served in jail since the raid.

U.S. District Judge William Steele imposed the same sentence on Ramon Gutierrez-Rodriguez, 30, who admitted having a fake green card, and Jose Joel Ramirez-Ramirez, 40, and Jesus Adan Vega-Ramirez, 26, who had what were determined to be fake permanent resident cards.

All five men now will be transferred to immigration authorities for deportation back to Mexico.

Each defendant apologized for the deception.

"Forgive me for my false documentations," Rodriguez-Flores told DuBose through an interpreter. "The thing of it is, I have four children I have to support."

Also through an interpreter, Ramirez-Ramirez told Steele he is eager to return home.

"I want to apologize for what happened, and I want to go back to Mexico with my family, who are ill. And I will never do this again for the rest of my life," he said.

Located at Bates Field adjacent to the Mobile Regional Airport, the Aviation Training Center is the only facility in the nation that trains Coast Guard pilots, according to authorities. Personnel from the base also conduct drug surveillance and assist search-and-rescue operations.

Prosecutors touted last month's raid as an important law enforcement measure to keep the base and other "critical infrastructure" safe from potential terrorist threats. But Federal Defender Carlos Williams, who represents Rodriguez-Flores, Luna-Velasquez and Gutierrez-Rodriguez, told DuBose none of the defendants had a nefarious motive.

"Their purpose was not to commit any other crime but to work to support their families. ... Some of them had actually been working for quite some time when they were stopped on this occasion," he said.

Three illegal aliens arrested in a similar raid on May 26 at the state docks in Mobile are scheduled to plead guilty on Friday.