False Identification, False Security

110 people used false identification to obtain security clearances to work at Chicago's O'Hare airport. A raid there netted 23 illegal immigrants from Mexico.

The airport raid, which netted 23 undocumented workers from Mexico, showed that rigid new security protocols implemented in the six years since the terrorist attacks of September 11 are still not working.

The city's department of aviation is supposed to rigorously screen all employees granted access to secure areas like the tarmac and cargo areas.

That process is supposed to include fingerprinting, an FBI criminal check, and a security threat assessment.

But 110 employees of one contractor on site used social security numbers which either did not exist or belonged to other people, some of whom were dead, according to a criminal complaint.

One undocumented worker looking for work at the airport, who was actually a government informer, was told to look through a box with about 20 airport security badges and "pick one with a picture that most closely resembled his own likeness" the complaint said.

Feeling secure yet? This is why border security is a big deal. This is why illegal immigration is a big deal. The current euphemism being used for illegal immigrants is "undocumented workers". Only they aren't, are they? They are carrying stolen identities. The 23 illegals arrested in the raid (and the story actually calls them undocumented workers) face up to three years in jail and deportation. The People who hired them face up to 15.

Neither sentence is long enough.

Other Links to this Post

1. Public Secrets: from the files of the Irishspy — Thursday, 8 November , 2007 @ 12:28 pm