Nine Suspected Illegal Immigrants Arrested

Federal immigration agents raided a Navy contractor Tuesday, arresting nine men they say were in the country illegally. All nine were working on P-3 Orions used in anti-submarine operations, according to WTVD-TV in Durham.

The raid, part of what the Department of Homeland Security calls "Operation Shield America," centered on Aerospace Manufacturing's hangar at Smith Field in Winston-Salem, NC. All nine men were reportedly British citizens who were in the US illegally, according to the TV station.

Federal agents told WTVD they were especially concerned because the fact all nine were in the US illegally shows how easily a foreign-born terrorist might be able to procure employment where sensitive government work is performed.

In March, federal agents raided Timco Aviation Services in Greensboro, NC, arresting 28 aviation workers accused of being in this country without proper documentation. Six of them were accused of using fake immigration documents to obtain their A&P tickets from the FAA.

In fact, Aerospace Manufacturing works out of former Piedmont Airline facilities leased to it by Timco, according to the Winston-Salem Journal. Aerospace Manufacturing has occupied the facilities for just two months. There was no immediate indication of how many workers the company had left in the wake of Tuesday's raid.

Smith Field's interim director, Chris Veal, told the Journal the workers had submitted their names for background checks and were performing their jobs under the supervision of others who'd already been cleared.

"The company vouched for them," Veal told the paper. "They weren't just allowed to go down (to the hangar) willy-nilly."

In the aftermath of the ICE operation, Veal told the Journal he didn't anticipate any security shake-ups at the airport. "The security process worked, in the grand scheme of things," he said.

FMI: www.dhs.gov