Thread: Officials launch immigration raid at O'Hare Airport

Officials launch immigration raid at O'Hare Airport
November 7, 2007
BY ERIC HERMAN Criminal Courts Reporter

Federal and local authorities launched an early-morning immigration raid at O’Hare Airport today, officials said.

The raid, which began at 4:45 a.m., targeted illegal immigrants with false identification who were being allowed to load cargo onto airplanes, sources said.

The raid included agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement — a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security known as ICE — as well as Cook County sheriff’s deputies, sources said.

“What I can tell you at this point is that ICE agents, in conjunction with other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, are conducting an enforcement operation subsequent to an eight-month-long investigation,â€

Isn't this the airport the "sainted" Elvira Arellano was caught at? LOL

I am so glad to see these events happening. It is about time. It looks to me like they are not going to let up either. This is great.

So nobody forgets: Six illegal aliens nabbed in Atlanta airport’s secure area
Posted by D.A. King at 11:07 pm

From last November:

Six illegals nabbed in Atlanta airport's secure area

ATLANTA Authorities say six illegal aliens hired to do work in the secure area of one of America's busiest airports are now under arrest.

Investigators say all had security badges giving them access to the tarmac and other normally restricted areas at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. All six are said to be Mexicans working for a private company that was hired to do some drywall work.

Federal immigration officials don't believe the men posed a specific threat. But the government is concerned that they managed to get clearances for the airport's secure area.

Neither the airport nor the company the men worked for immediately responded to messages for a comment.

In more than three and a-half years, immigration officials say they've found close to six-thousand unauthorized airport workers in the U-S.
http://www.eyewitnessnewstv.com/global/ ... =Printable
http://www.thedustininmansociety.com/blog/?p=1124

What good are security checks if we don't know who is working at our airports? While I'm taking off my shoes a janitor could be planting a bomb. Don't get me wrong I don't care how much I get scrutinized at security but they had better be doing background checks on their employees also! Glad to hear ICE is doing its job

They didn't just do the raids for there own health or the health of this nation. Either someone said they were going to the media. there has been a terrorist plot at O'hare or Chertoff said bust them and get the cameras rolling. Always staged always a reason for what they do and nothing is for the better of America.

Whatever the reason, its nice to know that ICE is raiding anything at all in Chicago. I am sick and tired of Mayor Daley, and all his corrupt cronies getting away with harboring these criminals. Maybe it will give a few million of them the incentive to go home.

story just got 10 seconds on the national news.

Read this online:

Associated Press
Nov. 7, 2007 04:48 PM

CHICAGO - Nearly two dozen illegal immigrants were arrested Wednesday, accused of using fake security badges to work in critical areas of O'Hare International Airport, including the tarmac, authorities said.

The 23 illegal workers were employed by Ideal Staffing Solutions Inc., whose corporate secretary and office manager also were arrested after an eight-month investigation that involved federal, state and Chicago authorities.

The company contracted work for carriers including United Airlines, KLM and Qantas, said Elissa A. Brown, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

"The investigation identifies a vulnerability that could compromise national security, while bringing criminal charges against individuals who built an illegal work force into their business practice," Brown said.

Ideal Staffing officials did not return a telephone message left after business hours Wednesday by the Associated Press.

Much of the investigation centered on the airport security badges issued by the Department of Aviation, said U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald. Agents found that 110 of the 134 badges issued to Ideal Staffing workers did not match the individuals who carried them, he said.

The discrepancies were first noted in March by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspector, Fitzgerald said.

"If we are to ensure public safety, we must know who has access to the secure areas of airports," Fitzgerald said. "A fundamental component of airport safety is preventing the use of false identification badges, and punishing those who commit or enable such violations."

Mary Gurin, 36, of Carpentersville, and Norinye Benitez, 24, of Franklin Park, were each charged with one federal count of harboring illegal immigrants for gain and one federal count of misuse of Social Security numbers. They were scheduled for a preliminary appearance later Wednesday in U.S. District Court, Brown said.

Benitez is believed to be an illegal immigrant from Mexico, and Gurin employed her and signed her airport badge application while knowing her illegal status, Brown said.

The workers arrested, 21 from Mexico and two from Guatemala, were being held in the Cook County jail. They face state criminal charges and deportation, Brown said.

According to affidavits in a complaint against Gurin and Benitez unsealed Wednesday in U.S. District Court, the applications for the 110 bogus badges listed Social Security numbers that either did not exist or belonged to other individuals, some of whom were dead.

One affidavit from a temporary worker who cooperated with authorities said Benitez told him to look through a box containing about 20 airport security badges and to pick one with a picture that resembled his own face.

The affidavits allege that Ideal Staffing told workers they needed to have identification, but that the documents did not have to be legitimate, and also accused the company of supplying some workers with deactivated badges issued in other names.

Brown, Fitzgerald and other officials declined to answer questions about how workers could use deactivated badges to enter secure areas of the airport, saying that the investigation continued and that not all details could be revealed.

Cook County State's Attorney Richard A. Devine said his office has issued more than 100 arrest warrants in the case.

Originally Posted by Ex_OC

Isn't this the airport the "sainted" Elvira Arellano was caught at? LOL

Yep. Obviously we're not jailing the right folks if this is still happening.

So shouldn't Ideal be shut down and never allowed access to public transportation again?