Los Angeles city workers arrested for immigration violations

Associated Press:

Eight workers at the city's Department of Water and Power have been arrested because they were unauthorized to work in the United States, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.

The agency arrested five people Tuesday and had previously arrested three others as part of a yearlong review of the utility's employment records by the agency and the utility itself.

The workers held both blue collar and management jobs, according to an ICE statement. All had been with the company for at least three years and one made more than $100,000 a year.

The joint investigation was part of a larger effort by ICE to root out unauthorized workers with access to critical infrastructure like nuclear plants and water supplies, though the agency emphasized that none of the arrested had known terrorist ties.

All of the arrested workers - nationals of Ethiopia, Nigeria, El Salvador and Mexico whose names were not released - had come to the United States legally. Some, however, had visas that did not authorize them to work and two were legal residents with criminal convictions that made them eligible for deportation, the statement said.

The DWP was not accused of knowingly hiring illegal workers, and the agency participated fully in the investigation that examined the records of over 7000 employees, ICE said.

"In many cases, companies such as DWP seek to hire legal workers, only to have their efforts undermined by employees who present counterfeit documents or knowingly violate the conditions of their admission," said Julie L. Myers, Homeland Security's assistant secretary for the immigration and customs agency.

"When a person uses fraud or false documents to obtain a job, they mask not only their true identities, but also their motives and in some cases, their criminal history."

I wonder how many other illegal immigrants are working for the City of Los Angeles?