Arrests target fake ID ring at O'Hare
Twenty-three illegal immigrants were arrested Wednesday after they were accused of using fake security badges to work in critical areas at O'Hare International Airport, including the tarmac, authorities said Wednesday.
The workers were all employed by Ideal Staffing Solutions Inc. of Bensenville and were contracted out to work for carriers that included United Airlines, KLM and Qantas, said Elissa A. Brown, special agent in charge for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office of investigations in Chicago.
The eight-month investigation, which involved federal, state and Chicago authorities, also resulted in the arrest of Ideal Staffing's corporate secretary and office manager. Mary Gurin, 36, of Carpentersville and Norinye Benitez, 24, of Franklin Park were each charged with one federal count of harboring illegal aliens for gain and one federal count of misuse of Social Security numbers.
The workers face state criminal charges and deportation, Brown said.
"The investigation identifies a vulnerability that could compromise national security, while bringing criminal charges against individuals who built an illegal work force into their business practice," Brown said at a news conference that included U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald, Cook County State's Attorney Richard A. Devine and representatives of the Chicago aviation department, the Chicago Police Department and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The workers were being held in the Cook County jail, while Gurin and Benitez were scheduled for a preliminary appearance later Wednesday in U.S. District Court, Brown said.
Benitez is an illegal immigrant from Mexico and Gurin employed her and signed her airport badge application while knowing her illegal status, Brown said.
Much of the investigation centered on the airport security badges issued by the aviation department, Fitzgerald said. Agents found that 110 of the 134 badges issued to Ideal Staffing workers did not match the individuals who carried them, he said.
The discrepancies were first noted in March by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspector, Fitzgerald said.
"If we are to ensure public safety, we must know who has access to the secure areas of airports," Fitzgerald said. "A fundamental component of airport safety is preventing the use of false identification badges and punishing those who commit or enable such violations."
According to affidavits in a complaint against Gurin and Benitez unsealed Wednesday in U.S. District Court, the applications for the 110 bogus badges listed Social Security numbers that either did not exist or that belonged to other individuals, some of whom were deceased.
One affidavit from a temporary worker who cooperated with authorities said Benitez told him to look through a box containing some 20 airport security badges and to pick one with a picture that resembled his own face.
The affidavits allege that Ideal Staffing told workers they needed to have identification but the documents did not have to be legitimate, and also accused the company of supplying some workers with deactivated badges issued in other names.
Ideal Staffing officials did not return a telephone message left after business hours Wednesday by The Associated Press.
Brown, Fitzgerald and other officials declined to answer repeated questions about how workers could use deactivated badges to enter secure areas of the airport, saying the investigation was ongoing and not all details could be revealed.
Devine said his office has issued more than 100 arrest warrants in the case.
The workers arrested, 21 from Mexico and two from Guatemala, face a maximum sentence of three years in prison if convicted on the state charges, authorities said. If convicted on both federal charges, Gurin and Benitez could face total sentences of 15 years apiece.