24 illegal immigrant workers arrested at Fort Benning

Friday, January 19th 2007, 4:42 pm

By: News On 6

ATLANTA (AP) Nearly 40 illegal immigrants hired by contractors working on three military bases in Georgia, Virginia and Nevada have been arrested over the last three days by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Agency spokesman Richard Rocha said today in the largest arrest, 21 illegal immigrant workers were charged with identity theft and immigration violations for attempting to enter Fort Benning, Georgia. They were among 24 workers arrested Wednesday while trying to enter the base to do construction work on soldiers' barracks. The three workers who are not facing criminal charges will be placed in immigration removal proceedings.

Another ICE spokesman, Marc Raimondi, said similar raids at military installations in Nevada and Virginia Thursday also netted 18 other arrests.

Raimondi said one of those arrested, a Nicaraguan man employed by a company doing construction at Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs, Nevada, was a member of MS-13, which the government considers one of the most dangerous gangs in the U.S. Raimondi said none of the others arrested posed a direct security threat. He added that it's critical that authorities have real identifications for those entering military bases.

The group arrested in Georgia includes 20 Mexican nationals, three Guatemalans and an Italian. Nine of the 21 are charged with either possessing or using fraudulent identity documents, and another was accused of re-entering the country after deportation. The remaining eleven defendants are accused of entering the country illegally.