Thread: Language teachers arrested at U.S. military base

http://www.heraldnewsdaily.com/stories/ ... 81631.html

Language teachers arrested at U.S. military base
Staff and agencies
05 October, 2005


WASHINGTON - Two Indonesians and a Senegalese who worked as foreign language instructors for elite U.S. special operations troops at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, have been arrested on immigration charges, authorities said on Wednesday.

The Army said the three worked at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg. Sgt. Joseph Healy, a spokesman for Army Special Operations Command, said the three had a purely academic role and "were not exposed to any Army special operations tactics techniques or procedures."

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said the arrests were part of an effort to remove illegal immigrants working at sensitive U.S. sites and critical infrastructure locations such as airports, seaports, nuclear plants, chemical plants and military bases.

ICE agents on Tuesday arrested Indonesians Nurkis Qadariah, 34, and Sayf Rimal, 37, and charged them with possessing and using false immigration documents and making false statements, the agency said.

They were contractors working for BIB Consultants Inc., a Florida-based company that provides language instructors to U.S. Special Forces and other military personnel at Fort Bragg. Criminal complaints filed against them said they used counterfeit Resident Alien cards and falsely claimed they were lawful U.S. permanent residents to get work with BIB.

Authorities said there were pending deportation proceedings against Qadariah and Rimal in New York.

ICE agents also arrested Senegalese Ousmane Moreau, 38, as part of the same investigation and charged him with being in the United States illegally, which will lead to proceedings to remove him from the country, the agency said.

"Unauthorized workers who use fraudulent documents to gain work at sensitive U.S. military installations pose a serious homeland security threat," Jeff Jordan, the agency‘s assistant special agent-in-charge in Charlotte, North Carolina, said in a statement.

"Not only are their identities in question, but they are also vulnerable to potential exploitation by terrorists and other criminals given their illegal status in this country," Jordan said. "Furthermore, these individuals have access to some of the most sensitive work sites in the nation."

Authorities said the arrests stemmed from an investigation by ICE, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Army Criminal Investigation Command and Fort Bragg security officials.

Gee another surprise...

www.theempirejournal.com


Wednesday, October 05, 2005


Three Contract Employees Nabbed At Fort Bragg
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While Americans go through airport screeners, show ID, remove shoes, have bags rummaged through, and baby strollers searched, illegal aliens can manage to obtain jobs not just picking apples, but as contract language instructors.

Such was the case at Fort Bragg, NC. Recently arrested were two Indonesian nationals and a Senegalese national who were working as contract language instructors at the Joint Special Operations Command Center (JSOC) within the U.S. Army Reservation at Fort Bragg. Immigration Customs and Enforcement, [ICE] agents arrested Nurkis Qadariah, a 34-year-old native of Indonesia, and Sayf Rimal, a 37-year-old native of Indonesia, pursuant to two criminal complaints filed in the Eastern District of North Carolina charging them with violating Title 18 U.S.C. Section 1546(a), possessing and using false documents, and Title 18 U.S.C. Section 1001(a), making false statements.

The criminal complaints specifically allege that Qadariah and Rimal utilized counterfeit Resident Alien Cards and made false statements under penalty of perjury that they were Lawful Permanent Residents of the United States in order to gain employment with BIB Consultants, Inc., for work at the U.S. Army Reservation at Fort Bragg. BIB Consultants Inc. is a Florida-based company that provides contract language instruction services to U.S. Special Forces and other U.S. military personnel at the JSOC at Fort Bragg.

The complaints allege that neither Qadariah, nor Rimal are lawful permanent residents of the United States. In fact, the complaints allege that there are pending removal and deportation proceedings against them both in New York, N.Y. Qadariah and Rimal made their initial appearance yesterday in federal court in Raleigh, N.C. in connection with the charges.

ICE agents also arrested Ousmane Moreau , a 38-year-old native of Senegal, Monday in connection with the same investigation. Moreau was charged with administrative immigration violations, specifically being in the United States illegally. He will be placed in removal proceedings.

This year alone ICE reports:

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.

On July 6, 2005, ICE special agents, working with the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Air Force Office of Investigation, the Social Security Office of the Inspector General and the Johnston County Sheriff's office, arrested 48 illegal aliens who were working at the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, N.C.

On June 1, 2005, ICE agents arrested 26 illegal workers who had access to the Northrup Grumman Shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The individuals were presented for prosecution for a range of crimes including using fake documents to gain employment, making false statements, and illegal re-entry to the United States after deportation.

On May 17, 2005, ICE agents arrested 9 unauthorized aliens performing contract work at a Winston-Salem, N.C., facility that refits the U.S. Navy's P-3 Orion aircraft - which is the Navy's primary anti-submarine patrol aircraft. The aliens are known to have performed work on the Navy aircraft.

On April 14, 2005, ICE agents arrested 18 illegal aliens working for a San Diego company that performed maintenance on U.S. Navy vessels in San Diego. Most of the aliens had badges authorizing them to enter the Navy base. An ICE audit of the contractor revealed that nearly half its employees were illegal workers. The arrests were the latest in an ongoing ICE probe in that has netted 163 arrests of illegal aliens with access to military bases in San Diego and Imperial Counties.

The problem appears to stem from the relative ease of procuring counterfeit documents. The dawn of high tech graphic software, color copy machines afforded people an opportunity to be creative. Long gone are ho-hum black and white documents and reports. While businesses began to add life to their paper trail, counterfeiters seized the new technology and surged on the scene reproducing currency, bank checks, and documentation of citizenship or work eligibility with relative ease.

According to the US Treasury’s Advanced Counterfeit Deterrence, action to prevent counterfeiting forced the change in American currency: “In 1996, the United States government introduced the first significant design change to its currency in 67 years. These design changes were needed to combat the emergence of color copiers and other emerging technologies that could be used to counterfeit notes.�

It is apparent that if counterfeiters can craft currency so well that the government was forced to alter the design significantly, then why hasn’t the government moved quickly to see the absolute need to significantly alter the design of Social Security Cards and Resident Alien Cards [usually known as “green cards,]?

Fraudulent identification and immigration documents were noted as being a major stumbling block for employers in the recent Government Accountability Office [GAO] report: Weaknesses Hinder Employment Verification and Worksite Enforcement Efforts. According to Center for Immigration Studies, an independent, non-partisan think tank, “employees suffer no penalty for using fraudulent SSNs, they continue to do so. Similarly, since employers benefiting from cheap labor also suffer no penalty, they continue to hire illegal aliens without checking the validity of their SSNs.�

The GAO report indicated, ICE has “ . . . a voluntary program through which participating employers electronically verify employees’ work eligibility, has potential to help enhance the verification process and substantially reduce document fraud.� The report further noted problems and weaknesses in the program and recommended, “the Basic Pilot Program’s current weaknesses, and establish additional output goals and measures and set a target time frame for developing outcome goals and measures for the worksite enforcement program.�

A weak law allows for the employer to see the document and if the document looks genuine to the employer they can’t be held responsible for hiring an alien immigrant.

Brian 503a posted in part:

ICE agents also arrested Senegalese Ousmane Moreau, 38, as part of the same investigation and charged him with being in the United States illegally, which will lead to proceedings to remove him from the country, the agency said.

Now, on one hand, illegals are arrested, given a court date and are released. Just because these three were caught on a military installation as illegal immigrants, why are they treated with much more enthusiasm for deportation, than say, the regular Jose Smojse looking for a job on the street corner? Heck, they all should be deported, one not more important than the other.

Besides, that was great job canidate screening done by our military! How long had they worked there, anyway?

http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=6723

Oct 08 21:59

Indonesian Man Detained By North Carolina State Authorities


New York (ANTARA News) - One of two Indonesians arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday for alleged immigration violations was until Friday still in the custody of North Caroline State authorities, an Indonesian official said on Friday.

"We have yet to make any contact with Syaf Rimal as he is still being detained for questioning while his wife, Nurkis Qadariah, has been released," acting Indonesian Consul General (KJRI) in New York Harbangan Napitupulu said on Friday.

An Indonesian married couple Nurkis Qadariah, 34, and her husband, Sayf Rimal, 37, were arrested by the ICE along with a Senegalese on Tuesday in a crackdown on illegal immigrants working at sensitive sites and critical infrastructure locations such as airports, seaports, nuclear plants, chemical plants and military bases.

ICE agents charged them with possessing and using false immigration documents and making false statements.

Nurkis who has been contacted by the KJRI, meanwhile, claimed they had not violated any work permit rule in the US and thus she said at she wanted to clarify her immigration document with the BIB Consultants Inc., a Florida-based company that provides language instructors to US Special Forces and other military personnel at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Both Nurkis and Syaf as well as the Senegalese worked as foreign language instructors for elite U.S. special operations troops at Fort Bragg.

Sgt. Joseph Healy, a spokesman for Army Special Operations Command, told the local press recently that the three instructors had a purely academic role and "were not exposed to any Army special operations tactics techniques or procedures."

Harbangan added the Indonesian consulate here was ready to help the two Indonesians, including accompanying them in court to ensure their rights woul be respected. (*)