Alien Roundup at Newport Naval Station

From ICE (the best acronymn of any government agency!) comes this news blurb FOUR ALIENS ARRESTED FOR ILLEGALLY WORKING AT THE NEWPORT NAVAL STATION (16 March 2006) related to Aid Maintenance Co., a contract cleaning company providing services in Rhode Island , Massachusetts and Connecticut (RI, MA and CT). They also provide the same services for both the Naval Station and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport R.I.!

Any AID Maintenance info out there on the net? You bet!

From the September 25, 1998 print edition of the Boston Business Journal

AID Maintenance... hauled Massachusetts Auditor Joseph DeNucci into court to force his office to release information used in a report charging the company with hiring illegal aliens.

(You're kidding - way back in 1998? - wow - ed)

The report claimed that 134 employees of the company used false social security numbers.

In particular, there were 127 cases of employees allegedly using social security numbers belonging to other people, according to the report.

There were 22 alleged instances of social security numbers of dead people being used.

There were also allegations of employees using the same social security numbers.

Loiselle has denied any wrongdoing.

"Ken Loiselle – Founder/Owner/President - Since 1968 Ken has ensured the day to day operations of every customer. Ken has grown his business the old fashion way – from the ground up – through honest salesmanship and a strong reputation."

FOUR ALIENS ARRESTED FOR ILLEGALLY WORKING AT THE NEWPORT NAVAL STATION (16 March 2006)

"The (four) aliens (three Guatemalan nationals and one Colombian national) arrested have been placed in removal proceedings, and will appear before a federal immigration judge who will determine whether they should be deported.

... agents audited the hiring records of more than 250 AID Maintenance workers. The audit found deficiencies in more than 50% of the records of the employees on the company's payroll.

A termination notice has been served on AID Maintenance informing them that 140 of their employees are not authorized employment in the United States. ICE is continuing to investigate this case.

Let's see - AID had more than 250 maintenance workers. Of those, 140 (56% of their workers) are NOT authorized employment (not permitted to work) within the United States.

The irony of all this - visit the AID Maintenance Co. website and you're immediately met with a US flag.

We will have to await the outcome of this as it is under further investigation. But - IMHO - the 1998 news article sort of "hits home" now - doesn't it?

But wait - 'something' actually started earlier (warning: pdf file!)

"On August 18, 1994, the United States Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service (complainant or INS), filed a seven-count Complaint in which it alleged that Aid Maintenance Company, Inc. (respondent or Aid Maintenance) had committed some 139 alleged violations of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), 8 U.S.C. § 1324a, for which civil money penalties totaling $67,250 were assessed.

The 139 alleged infractions consisted of 15 illegal hire/continue to employ charges and 124 record keeping, or paperwork, violations."

(Please be aware - I do not know if this case was overturned in any appeal process. The document itself shows a date of February 12th, 1999.)

As they used to say on "Laugh-in": "Verrrrrry interesting..."

But as you near the end of the document (pages 358-359), you encounter this:

"In summary, the total civil money penalties sum for the 12 proven illegal hire/continue to employ violations in Count I and the related levies for the 116 proven paperwork violations in Counts II, III, IV, V, and VII is being increased from $60,570 to $105,500..."

Ouch! But here is the kicker, from the very end of the document:

"Aid Maintenance is hereby ordered to cease and desist from further violating the provisions of 8 U.S.C. § 1324a(a)(1)(A) by hiring aliens for employment while knowing the aliens to be unauthorized for employment in the United States, or from continuing to employ unauthorized aliens after learning that they are unauthorized, and shall comply with the requirements of 8 U.S.C. § 1324a(a)(1)(A) and 1324a(a)(2)."

Maybe... we add this to Immigration Reform:

"Any organization, corporation, company, individual or any combination thereof found guilty of hiring aliens for employment while knowing the aliens to be unathorized for employment in the United States, or from continuing to employ unauthorized aliens after learning that they are unauthorized, will be prohibited from performing any Federal work. Any current, ongoing contracts will cease.

In the case of appeals, the ban will be temporary until all avenues of appeal have been pursued."

Something along those lines would certainly put the bite back into the bark!