41 at JWA caught in ID dragnet

Deirdre Newman

Forty-one workers were arrested Thursday as part of an

anti-terrorism investigation that examined the employment records of

tens of thousands of airport workers nationwide.

The investigation focused on employees with high-level security

access at John Wayne, Los Angeles International, Ontario

International, Long Beach and Palm Springs airports. Altogether, 104

employees have been indicted, said Thomas Mrozek, public affairs

officer with the U.S. attorney’s office.

The nine-month investigation was a joint effort between the Social

Security Administration and the Immigration and Naturalization

Service, with support from the Department of Transportations’ Office

of Inspector General, he said.

All of the suspects had obtained Security Identification Display

Area badges that either gave them access to secure areas or enabled

them to pass through normal security screening procedures.

Many of those arrested are charged with using fraudulent Social

Security numbers, essentially committing identity theft. The majority

of them are suspected of illegally using Social Security numbers

because they are illegal immigrants not authorized to work in the

United States; others are suspected of trying to hide a criminal

past, Mrozek said

At JWA, investigators examined 2,210 employees who possessed the

high-level badges. They eventually determined that 51 people had

fraudulently used Social Security numbers to obtain their badges. Of

those, 41 have been arrested so far.

In Los Angeles, more than 100 members of the Service Employees

International Union responded to the arrests outside the federal

building, lambasting the government for targeting immigrants.

“We, obviously like everyone else, are concerned that we have safe

airports, but in our view, the people they arrested did not pose any

type of threat to our security,” spokesman Andrew McDonald said.

“These were just folks who are working hard trying to make a living

for themselves and their families.”

McDonald went on to say that the investigation highlights the need

for changes to the country’s immigration laws to enable immigrants to

“earn legal status and come out of the underground.”

The INS started its investigation as a result of the Sept. 11

terrorist attacks. Since then, the agency has reviewed the records of

nearly 200,000 workers at nearly 100 airports across the country.