Thread: ICE ARRESTS 17 ILLEGAL WORKERS EMPLOYED BY MILITARY

ICE ARRESTS 17 ILLEGAL WORKERS EMPLOYED BY MILITARY SUBCONTRACTOR THAT ALLEGEDLY IGNORED NO-HIRE WARNINGS


SAN DIEGO – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents today executed federal search warrants at two facilities owned by a Southern California military subcontractor that has come under scrutiny twice in the last six years for hiring unauthorized workers.

During the enforcement actions targeting facilities operated by the Golden State Fencing Company in Oceanside and Riverside, ICE agents arrested 17 unauthorized workers, a number of whom are believed to have been re-hired despite warnings to the company not to re-hire due to their illegal immigration status. ICE agents also seized boxes of documents and other information from the company facilities during the searches.

The searches and arrests are part of an ongoing criminal investigation into Golden State’s hiring practices. In 1999 and 2004, ICE conducted audits of the firm’s hiring records, resulting in warnings to company officials about serious criminal and civil consequences for failing to comply with the orders. Subsequent to the second audit, ICE launched a criminal investigation into the company, which continues today.

In addition to reviewing employment records for Golden State’s Oceanside facility, ICE agents also recently audited some 300 employee records for the company’s Riverside facility. That review identified more than 100 employees who were unauthorized to work, including three individuals the company had been ordered not to re-hire based on the 1999 audit.

“ICE is using its unique immigration enforcement authorities to safeguard worksites and installations that are potentially vulnerable to security threats or sabotage,� said Frank Marwood, acting special agent-in-charge for ICE investigations in San Diego. “That strategy includes using criminal and administrative penalties to deter egregious violators who continue to re-hire unauthorized workers.�

Golden State is a Southern California company that has provided contract workers in San Diego to perform services at the U.S. Navy base on North Island. Previous ICE audits showed that some of Golden State’s employees had security IDs enabling them to enter North Island to construct fences on the base.

The investigation into Golden State’s hiring practices is part of Operation Safe Cities, an ongoing local ICE interior enforcement initiative implemented in 2003 to protect sensitive area businesses from possible security breaches. Since the initiative began, ICE agents here have arrested more than 350 foreign nationals working unlawfully at more than 700 businesses.

Today’s arrests are the latest in ICE’s ongoing efforts to target and remove illegal aliens working at sensitive sites and critical infrastructure locations around the nation, including defense facilities, nuclear plants, chemical plants, airports, and seaports. Unauthorized workers with access to security sensitive sites and critical infrastructure facilities are vulnerable to exploitation by terrorists, smugglers, traffickers or other criminals. In accordance with ICE’s homeland security mission, ICE agents prioritize worksite enforcement efforts by focusing on investigations related to critical infrastructure and national security.

In recent months, ICE agents have conducted a number of worksite enforcement operations at U.S. defense facilities, including the following:

Between October 18 and October 28, 2005, ICE special agents arrested dozens of illegal aliens who were performing contract work at the U.S. Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base-New Orleans in Belle Chasse, Louisiana; the White Sands Missile Range in Las Cruces, New Mexico; the U.S. Army’s Fort Irwin Training Center in San Bernardino, California; and the U.S. Marine Corps Logistics Base in Barstow, California.

At the Naval Air Station, ICE agents screened the identification of more than 450 contractors and sub-contractors working and detained six illegal aliens performing contract work there. The Naval Air Station had previously conducted its own investigation and formally barred more than a dozen workers from the facility.


At the White Sands Missile Range, ICE agents teamed up with the White Sands Missile Range Police Department to arrest an illegal alien trying to enter to perform contract work inside the facility. Police officials at the facility first sought help from ICE last month after intercepting 12 illegal aliens with fake documents attempting to enter the facility to work at a construction site inside.


At Fort Irwin, a U.S. Army desert warfare training facility, ICE agents took custody of six illegal aliens attempting to enter Fort Irwin, to perform contract work there. Base security had requested the assistance of ICE after questioning the validity of the documents presented by the illegal aliens as they attempted to enter the base for employment.


And at the Marine Corps Logistics Base, ICE agents took custody of an illegal alien attempting to enter to perform contract work there. Security officials at the base had intercepted the individual after he allegedly presented a fraudulent driver’s license and social security card to officials there.


On October 5, 2005, ICE arrested three illegal aliens who served as language instructors at the U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Two were criminally charged with using false documents to gain employment and making false statements. The third was charged with being in the country illegally. The employees provided instruction to U.S. Special Forces.


On October 4, 2005, seven illegal aliens were arrested at the U.S. Air Force Base in Mountain Home, Idaho, following an investigation by ICE and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. The men were working for Nutek Construction, which was sub-contracted to build housing on the air base.


On August 26, 2005, ICE agents arrested six Mexican nationals at the U.S. Army’s Fort Irwin in Barstow, Calif. The men were working illegally for Laurence-Hovenier, Inc., a construction company building military housing at the base. The workers, most of whom had security badges authorizing them to enter the base, were identified after agents audited the hiring records of more than 700 Laurence-Hovenier workers. The audit found that more than 40 percent of the employees on the company’s payroll might not have been authorized to work in the U.S. The investigation continues.


On July 26, 2005, ICE agents arrested six illegal aliens working at the Homestead Air Reserve Base in Homestead, Fla. The men, who were contracted by a Texas-based corporation, were working on a major runway-resurfacing project. Officers working at the Air Reserve’s main gate noticed irregularities in the documents presented by the three men and called ICE for follow-up.
To aid employers with the immigration document screening process, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services operates the Basic Pilot Program, a Web-based system that businesses can use to verify the employment eligibility of newly hired workers. Nationwide, there are thousands of employer sites linked into the Basic Pilot Program, including nearly 2,000 in California. In San Diego, over 100 businesses are now using it. Interested employers are urged to call the agency’s toll-free number (888-464-421 to obtain more information.

http://www.ice.gov/graphics/news/newsre ... ndiego.htm

www.signonsandiego.com

Oceanside company in trouble again over workers

By Leslie Berestein
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
December 1, 2005

A fencing company that has contracted with the military was busted for the second time in less than 15 months yesterday for hiring undocumented workers, some of whom federal immigration officials had specifically instructed the company not to rehire.

It is the third time the company has been found employing undocumented workers since 1999.

Yesterday morning, agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, used federal search warrants to raid the Oceanside and Riverside offices of Golden State Fence Co., a Riverside-based company with locations throughout Southern California. They also went to the homes of several employees.

Altogether, there were 16 undocumented workers apprehended. Ten of them had been found to be working illegally for the company in the past, and were not supposed to be rehired. Federal agents also confiscated several boxes of payroll and other financial documents to be used in an ongoing criminal investigation of the company's hiring practices.

Golden State, which has done business on North Island Naval Air Station in Coronado, was first found to be employing workers illegally in 1999. Following a second audit in September 2004, 14 employees without work authorization were apprehended in their homes and placed in removal proceedings. Thirteen were from Mexico; one was from Guatemala.

Last year, a Golden State official said the company was duped by workers with counterfeit documents.

"They presented to us what appeared to be legal documentation to work in the United States," Gary Hansen, vice president of administration, told The San Diego Union-Tribune then. "It's a shame."

Hansen didn't return calls yesterday.

Federal investigators aren't so sure company officials were fooled. One of the employees arrested yesterday was a man repatriated to Mexico after he was found working at Golden State illegally last year. He had re-entered the country and was rehired.

"The company was informed that these people were in the country illegally, and yet they are still being employed," said Frank Marwood, acting special agent in charge of ICE in San Diego.

"Regardless of whether anyone had a license or a fake document, most employers tend to know their employees by sight."

Marwood would not comment on whether the investigation will extend to other Golden State locations, listed on the company's Web site as El Centro, Anaheim, Palmdale, Palm Desert, Bakersfield and Santa Paula. He did say, however, that the case would be presented to the U.S. Attorney's Office for a decision on whether the company would be prosecuted.

"There is no doubt about it," he said.

ICE officials said the company did work for the military last year. They were not sure if there was a current military contract, but that the company recently bid on one.

Golden State is the first San Diego-area company to face a criminal investigation since ICE began auditing local military contractors and other businesses deemed critical to national security as part of Operation Safe Cities, a two-year-old program under which more than 700 San Diego and Imperial County businesses have been audited.

More than 350 workers have been arrested since, but no employers have faced sanctions.

Federal immigration laws are written in a way that places the onus on investigators to prove that an employer knowingly broke the law. Job applicants must present identification showing they are authorized to work in the United States, but employers aren't required to verify its authenticity. With counterfeit documents readily available, employers have an easy out.

According to ICE, it has been more than 10 years since the last criminal prosecution of a San Diego-area company for violation of immigration laws. An individual subcontractor was prosecuted in 2001.

What raised red flags for investigators in the Golden State case was the pattern of rehiring, ICE officials said. In 1999, when a tip led immigration officials to audit the company, 15 people were found working illegally. Last year, the company came under scrutiny again as part of the Safe Cities audits.

When investigators checked its records last year, they found that the company was employing people that it had been asked to terminate, and not rehire, back in 1999.

"They connected the dots in that the same employees' names were appearing on lists," Marwood said.

ICE spokeswoman Lauren Mack said it was unclear if, among those arrested yesterday, others had re-entered the country illegally. She said that past audits identified additional people working illegally for Golden State who could not be located, and so they were not arrested. Last year's audit revealed 48 people working there illegally at the time. While only 14 were found and arrested, the company was supposed to fire all of them.

"Maybe they never even fired them," Mack said, adding that employees arrested yesterday are being interviewed in hopes of getting a clearer picture of the company's hiring practices.