48 illegal workers at Air Force base arrested by ICE

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents yesterday arrested 48 illegal aliens in an investigation targeting unauthorized contract workers at the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, N.C., an active air-combat command base and home to the Air Force's 4th Fighter Wing.

ICE spokesman Dean Boyd in Washington said Parsons Evergreene Corp., a top 100 Defense Department contractor, employed the illegal workers who were taken into custody during raids at the base. ICE agents were assisted in the probe by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General and the Johnston County, N.C., Sheriff's Office.

Those arrested included laborers and carpenters who worked on the base but did not have access to military files. The arrests were made after authorities became aware that contract workers had entered the base under false pretenses.

Mr. Boyd said the investigation found that the majority of the work force employed by Parsons Evergreene, based in Salt Lake City, and its subcontractors had provided counterfeit identity documents to gain employment and access to the base. He said Parsons Evergreene was not a target of the investigation.

The fake documents included Social Security cards, he said.

"When individuals use false documents to hide their identity, the security and safety of our country is at risk," said Tom O'Connell, who heads the ICE field office in Raleigh, N.C. "ICE and its law-enforcement partners will continue to identify, arrest and deport those who break our laws and hide among us."

Mr. Boyd said those arrested were charged with administrative violations of federal immigration law and will be placed in deportation proceedings. Those taken into custody were identified as nationals from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and Ukraine.

The arrests follow similar investigations in the past few months in which illegal workers have been found at military installations and facilities.

Last month, ICE agents arrested 26 illegal aliens who worked and had access to the Northrop Grumman Shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. They also were accused of using phony documents to gain employment. In May, ICE agents arrested nine illegal aliens working at a Winston-Salem, N.C., facility that refits the P-3 Orion aircraft, the Navy's primary anti-submarine patrol aircraft. All of them had worked on the aircraft.

The 4th Fighter Wing is the host unit at the Seymour Johnson base and accomplishes its training and operational missions with F-15E Strike Eagles. Four fighter squadrons are operational units, capable of deploying worldwide on short notice and immediately generating combat power. Two other squadrons are responsible for training all F-15E crews for the Air Force.

The base also operates the Dare County bombing range, which is considered one of the premier ranges on the East Coast. About 4,300 Air Force personnel and 540 civilians work at the base.

Those arrested are scheduled to appear today before U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle. In the meantime, they are being held at the Johnston County Jail.