Thread: MA Flight school students arrested illegal aliens

Quote.....All the arrested immigrants, who were learning to fly small single-engine planes, are free pending deportation hearings in federal immigration court, immigration officials said.

They will never even show up for these hearings.

Originally Posted by TakingBackSoCal

Quote.....All the arrested immigrants, who were learning to fly small single-engine planes, are free pending deportation hearings in federal immigration court, immigration officials said.

They will never even show up for these hearings.

Ditto...in fact, I would bet they are already enrolled in another flight school as we speak....

Flyboys
November 6, 2010
By G. Perry

You would think that after the September 11th massacres, the United States would be a little more selective of who it allows to participate in flight-training programs. You would think, but you would be wrong. According to the New York Times, 33 Brazilians in this country illegally-and awaiting deportation-were allowed to take lessons at a flight academy just outside of Boston. They were taught (quelle surprise!) by an illegal alien, who just happens to be from Brazil.

Now, what does this story tell us?

1. Despite the rosy picture painted by the Department of Homeland Security, the implementation of recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission Report is sorely lacking, and in some cases, non-existent.

2. While the Transportation Security Administration serves some purpose in making a dent in this country’s chronic unemployment, more often than not it does not fulfill its intended purpose, unless that purpose is to lull the public into a false sense of security.

3. Finally, and most importantly, this report substantiates the charge that the hierarchy of ICE is more concerned with face-saving measures and publicity stunts, and policies that are astoundingly irrelevant the agency’s mission, than actually ensuring that its agents receive adequate support to bolster this nation’s defenses against threats originating overseas and potentially lethal foreign nationals transgressing our borders.

In short, ten years after the ineptitude of federal agencies allowed Islamic terrorists to enter our country and obtain the weapons necessary to murder thousands of American citizens, we are still stumbling along in the dark.

http://american-rattlesnake.org/2010/11/flyboys/

All the arrested immigrants, who were learning to fly small single-engine planes, are free pending deportation hearings in federal immigration court, immigration officials said.

Is this some kind of sick joke?! THOUSANDS were killed by terrorists that trained to pilot a plane before 9-11. Why were these criminals freed pending deportation?? The judge in this case should be investigated.

What an absurd situation. More illegal aliens on expired visas learning to fly airplanes.

Outrageous!!

Brazilians arrested at flight school plan to fight deportation

By Scott O'Connell/Daily News staff
MetroWest Daily News
Posted Nov 09, 2010 @ 12:24 AM


The 34 Brazilians arrested last month after federal authorities investigated the flight school they were attending are now seeking help as they face deportation, one of the men said yesterday.

The man, who asked to remain anonymous, said he and the other Brazilians are contacting Brazilian consulates in the U.S. for assistance. He also said he plans to hire a lawyer.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested the Brazilians last month and charged them with being in the country illegally. The federal investigation focused on their enrollment at TJ Aviation Flight Academy at Minute Man Air Field in Stow.

The Brazilian flight student said he and the other students arrested are angry about the arrests.

"We look like terrorists because of this...everybody is afraid to show their face," he said. "We just want to make ourselves clean."

The man admits he is in the country illegally after his visa expired. He had been enrolled in the flight school for six months.

He said he and many of the other Brazilians were taking the course with the hope of becoming a pilot in Brazil - a prized vocation in that country.

Now the man said he has lost his job because of his arrest.

ICE spokesman Ross Feinstein yesterday said the investigation has since been closed. He said could not divulge why the agency began investigating the flight school. He also could not give the names and personal information of the people arrested.

Feinstein said he did not know why the 34 alleged illegal immigrants were all attending the same flight school, but that ICE had concluded none of those arrested had any ties to terrorist groups.

The owner of the flight school, Thiago DeJesus, was one of the individuals arrested and has a deportation hearing scheduled for Feb. 10 in Boston Immigration Court, said Kathryn Mattingly, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review.

DeJesus did not return a call for comment.

Information on the legal proceedings for the other suspects was not immediately available. None of them is being detained by ICE, Feinstein said.

According to the Daily News' media partner, WCVB-TV Ch. 5, DeJesus and his students received federal clearance to train as pilots, even though strict security controls have been in place since the attacks on Sept. 11.

Three of the arrested Brazilians told the station that when they applied for flight training with the Transportation Security Administration, the agency did not find anything criminal in their background, and they were approved.

In a statement released over the weekend, the Transportation Security Administration said it was conducting an internal review of how foreign nationals receive clearance to take flight lessons.

Ann Davis, a spokeswoman for the agency, said she could not give any more information about that review.

The Brazilian flight student said while he doesn't want to be deported, he would leave the country if he is ordered.

"If we have to go, we'll go. I just don't want to go like this," he said. "I love this country. I didn't do anything to harm it."

www.metrowestdailynews.com

TSA Clears Flight Training For Illegal Immigrants

ViewDiscussion.Last Updated: Mon, 11/08/2010 - 3:58pm

Nearly a decade after the nation's deadliest terrorist attack, “strict security controlsâ€

Authorities wonder how 33 illegal immigrants got approval for flying school


Posted: Saturday, November 6, 2010 12:00 am


BOSTON - Federal officials could not explain Friday how more than 30 immigrants charged with being here illegally got clearance to take flying lessons at an airstrip outside Boston.

Federal law prohibits illegal immigrants from taking flight lessons under rules revamped after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. But the 33 Brazilians, arrested over the past few months and awaiting deportation hearings, somehow managed to get instruction at TJ Aviation Flight Academy at Minute Man Air Field in Stow, a rural town about 30 miles northwest of Boston.

Their instructor, also Brazilian, has also been charged with being here illegally, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Gillian Brigham.

Brigham said none of the immigrants posed a terrorism threat. But the incident, first reported by The Boston Globe, raised questions about the procedures for monitoring foreigners training to fly in the U.S.

Since 2004, the Transportation Security Administration has been required to check all foreign flight students against terrorism, criminal and immigration databases. Students must also show their passports and visas to their flight instructor, who is supposed to keep copies on file.

Greg Soule, a spokesman for the TSA, said in a statement that the agency was reviewing "the circumstances by which these individuals were issued pilots' licenses."

The owner of the flight school, Thiago DeJesus, told The Globe that the students got approval from the TSA before taking classes in single-engine planes for $165 an hour.

DeJesus, 26, said he did not know they were in the country illegally. He also denied being here illegally, saying that he came here from Brazil a decade ago.

DeJesus was not at the airfield Friday and did not respond to phone messages.

Neither he nor any of his students have been detained while they await deportation hearings in federal immigration court, Brigham said, adding that none have been criminally charged.

Jim Peters, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, confirmed that DeJesus was licensed to fly single-engine planes and give flying lessons. The FAA was investigating DeJesus' flight school because of "safety issues," he said, although it has allowed the school to remain open.

"We can't say anything more about that," Peters said.

While the FAA issues licenses to pilots who have received proper training, he said, it does not have a role in checking whether flight students are here legally.


http://azstarnet.com/news/national/arti ... 3ff68.html

Check this out from a couple years ago.



http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4353991&page=1

Updated Report from February 21, 2011

Problems remain in flight school security

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-228865.html