Used Forged Documents To Get Jobs

It only takes a quick look at the newspapers to see that illegal immigration is a hot-button issue in America these days... but imagine the surprise on the floor at Cessna's Wichita, KS plant Wednesday when agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement walked in and arrested five workers.

All five -- Homar Vargas-Blanco, Pedro Aguilar-Martinez, Jose Comacho, Fernando Lopez Inigo and Roberto Guiterrez -- were citizens of Mexico who ICE says shouldn't have been in this country.

"We did some investigation and discovered five people that were using fraudulent documents and working on those fraudulent documents," says Carl Rusnok, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, to the Wichita Business Journal.

But if workers on the factory floor were surprised... nobody in the front office was. That's because Cessna called ICE and reported the men after company executives got an anonymous tip.

Cessna spokesman Bob Stangarone said Cessna complied with federal law requiring employers to verify employment eligibility, and that the company conducted three self-audits in the last six years in an effort to maintain compliance.

"We're currently reviewing a new Homeland Security background checking system for applicability at Cessna," Stangarone added. "As new technology becomes available, it makes your processes more effective."

FMI: www.cessna.com, www.uscis.gov