April 19, 2005

Who’s Afraid Of 9/11? Illegal Aliens Still Get Sensitive U.S. Jobs

“...if there is a job opening which an American won't do, in other words, and there's a willing worker and a willing employer, that job ought to be filled on a legal basis, no matter where the person comes from.”

--- President George W. Bush, Joint Press Conference With Vicente Fox, March 23, 2005

"The U.S. message to Osama is clear, we're going to get you—unless you're willing to work a job no American is willing to take"—Rep. Tom Tancredo

Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo’s warning, quoted above, might be tongue-in-cheek. But it should be taken very seriously.

Illegal aliens take jobs that put our national security and public safety at risk. The very notion of allowing foreign criminals to obtain legal work visas is tantamount to national suicide.

For instance, in Florida, in March of this year, illegal aliens used fake Social Security cards and worked as contract painters at a nuclear power plant run by Progress Energy.

If that wasn't amazing enough, read this report from a Florida Republican, Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite:

According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Progress Energy [contact Progress Energy] did absolutely nothing wrong.

Surprisingly, a labor union blew the whistle on the illegal aliens at Progress Energy. Anonymous union workers sent a letter to authorities that seven employees had fraudulent Social Security numbers.

Could it be that some of the union's members are getting fed up with the support the AFL-CIO gives for unlimited illegal immigration?

Aircraft maintenance has been a lucrative field for illegal aliens too.

Since 2001, federal agents have arrested about 1,000 illegal aliens working as aircraft mechanics. You can bet there are many more that haven’t been caught.

Among the ones that did get caught: in March, 27 illegal aliens were found using fake social security cards to work as labor contractors for TIMCO, an aviation maintenance company at the Piedmont Triad International Airport in North Carolina. They were carrying North Carolina driver’s licenses, which helped them get other false documents.

The illegals didn't do just grunt jobs either. Several of them obtained professional licenses issued by the Federal Aviation Administration that gave them the authority to work on some of the most technical parts of the airplanes.

Two aliens who were named: Jorge Chacon of Panama and Percy Vega of Peru.

Vega is a former fighter pilot for the Peruvian navy who is licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration as a commercial pilot. This Peruvian pilot lied about his experience so that he could get a license to supervise other mechanics. It’s mind-numbing to think of the damage Vega could have done if he was a terrorist infiltrator.

TIMCO executives apparently think breaking immigration law doesn’t count.

They absolved themselves for the mess they created by claiming that this is "an immigration issue, not a safety or security issue."

TIMCO’s spokesmen claimed that it’s not their fault that illegal aliens were hired and added that there is nothing they could have done to prevent the hiring. Like many employers, Timco avoids responsibility by hiring their illegal aliens from contractors. [Ask them.]

Illegal aliens not only work on our airplanes, they also have unfettered access to our airports. Just recently 14 Brazilian nationals who were working illegally as janitors were arrested at Logan International Airport. Allowing these illegals to work and to give them access to the inside of the terminal is the largest lapse of security at that airport since the 9/11 attacks.

Incidents such as these are just the tip of the iceberg.

Here’s a list of other incidents with obvious national security concerns.

2/12/2004 - 7 illegal aliens worked as "Role Players" at Lake Charles, LA. to train U.S. troops for combat in Iraq. The aliens had previous records for various crimes including child molestation, domestic violence and theft. If that wasn’t enough to disqualify them for employment, five of the aliens were Iraqi nationals; one was a Syrian national; and one was from Somalia.

4/6/2004 - 21 illegal aliens from Mexico had access to restricted areas at Port Canaveral, FL. Their badges allowed them access to all areas of Port Canaveral.

8/31/2004 - 9 illegal aliens from Mexico worked as janitors at the Boeing Military Helicopter Plant in Mesa, Arizona. The workers were employed by Aramark and Aire Filter Products, subcontractors to Boeing.

9/30/2004 - 10 illegal aliens worked for a contractor that supplied employees to work for the Wornick Co. Wornick assembles the U.S. military's packaged food called MREs ["Meals Ready to Eat."]

10/13/2004 - 9 illegal aliens worked at the Department of Defense’s Iowa Army ammunition plant in Middletown, Iowa. All were from Mexico.

11/4/2004 - 75 illegal aliens worked at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems at a naval shipyard in Louisiana. Several of the aliens had previously been deported.

11/7/2004 - 44 illegal aliens worked at Marley Cooling Technologies at a nuclear cooling tower factory in Kansas. Those arrested originated from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya and Mexico.

11/9/2004 - 14 illegal aliens had full access to secure areas at a Tampa seaport. They used fraudulent social security and alien registration cards to gain employment. The aliens had security badges that gave them full access to secure areas of the seaport. Several of the aliens had previously been deported.

11/24/2004 - Nine illegal aliens who worked at a Louisiana Oil Refinery for the contractor Great Barrier Insulation Company. These aliens contracted for the Marathon Ashland Petroleum Refinery in Garyville, La.

In every one of these cases, there are Americans who could have been hired.

But the U.S. government will not stop this invasion as long as Bush and his open-borders cronies in Congress refuse to enforce our immigration laws.

There will always be foreigners that want to sneak over our borders to find work, and there will be greedy employers that will hire them—as long as our government allows them to do so.

Proposed guest-worker visas won’t stop the invasion of illegal aliens into this country as long as we have employers that are willing to violate our laws.

In contrast to the U.S., Third World countries like Malaysia take immigration enforcement very seriously.

Malaysia publicly flogs illegal aliens before deportation and imposes stiff fines, flogging, and jail time for their employers. It hires bounty hunters to hunt down immigration lawbreakers.

That’s because Malaysia cares.

We don’t have to use corporal punishment on illegal aliens—perhaps not even on American politicians.

If we enforced the law, changed the incentive structure, the illegal alien population would begin to self-deport.

But as things stand, allowing hordes of illegal aliens to take jobs in the U.S. is a recipe for disaster and a dangerous breach of our national security.

Rob Sanchez (email him) is a Senior Writing Fellow for Californians for Population Stabilization and author of the "Job Destruction Newsletter" (sign up for it here) at www.JobDestruction.com.