6 illegal immigrants found in truck at Atlanta airport

[Jeanfromfillmore]

6 illegal immigrants found in truck at Atlanta airport
Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) -- Six unidentified men were found in a cargo truck at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport during a random security sweep, officials said.
Transportation Security Administration spokesman Jon Allen said the Transportation Security Administration, along with more than a dozen federal and state agencies, were conducting counter-terrorism exercises Tuesday when agents discovered the men.
The men were handed over to two federal agencies -- Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Allen said.
The men were illegal immigrants, said ICE spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez. "None of those encountered were in secure areas of the airport, nor did they have access to those areas," she said.
Gonzalez previously said all the men had been processed for removal from the United States, but she later clarified the statement. "They have not been processed for removal at this time. We are still looking into the matter and there is an ongoing investigation," she said.
Gonzalez said five of the men were from Mexico and one man was from El Salvador.
"Additionally, our investigation has revealed that none of these individuals had any ill intent" against the United States, Gonzalez said.
The security operation took place outside a cargo facility that has no connection to any airport terminals, and the sweep was part of a routine exercise carried out randomly at various transportation hubs, Allen said.
"We conduct thousands of these across the country on a regular basis. This particular operation was targeted to facilities carrying cargo," he said.
Agents were using a three-tiered method, including an X-ray machine, radiological detection equipment and bomb-sniffing canine teams, he said. "Finding individuals in the back of the truck was not expected."
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/12/22/men.airport.truck/
Men found hiding in cargo truck to be deported
Six men found hiding inside a truck parked at Delta Air Lines' cargo facility near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport were in the country illegally but had no plans to do harm, according to federal authorities. Jon Allen with the Transportation Security Administration said the men were discovered Tuesday night by agents using an X-ray machine to inspect trucks in a routine counter-terrorism sweep around Hartsfield-Jackson.
Barbara Gonzalez with Immigration and Customs Enforcement said agents from ICE, TSA, Immigration and Customs and Border Patrol were were conducting "routine operations near the Atlanta Hartsfield International airport to identify possible violations" when the men were discovered.
" During last night’s operation...illegal aliens were encountered. None of those encountered were in secure areas of the airport, nor did they have access to those areas," Gonzalez said. "Our investigation has revealed that none of these individuals had any ill intent against the United States.”
Five of the men were from Mexico and one was from El Salvador, Gonzalez said. Initially authorities had said seven men were found, and that they would be deported
"We are not processing them for removal," Gonzalez said. "This is an on-going investigation.
Tuesday was the second night of a “visible intermodal prevention and response” operation that focused on trucks carry cargo to be loaded on planes, according to Allen with TSA.
There was no specific threat that prompted the operation.
“We conduct thousands of these operations across the country in conjunction with other federal, state and local agencies,” Allen told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Wednesday.
Bomb-sniffing dogs, a radioactive detector and an X-ray device were brought in but agents found no explosives.
No charges were brought against the contractor who owned the truck in which the men were hiding. But officials said they were investigating and that decision would be based on the findings.
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/men-...in-785330.html

Airport Counter-Terror Operation Finds Illegals
ATLANTA -- Agencies conducting a counter-terrorism sweep at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport may have made their most significant find so far.
Agents did not find any explosives but said they did find several illegal aliens in the back of a truck who would have had inside access to a cargo area at the airport. The area is not connected to passenger terminals.
Federal, state and local authorities conducted the airport checkpoint on Monday and Tuesday nights, scanning hundreds of trucks carrying cargo bound for airplanes.
"We do these randomly and unpredictably that they provide a deterrent. We were here last night, I'm not sure who would've predicted that this operation would continue," said Jon Allen with the Transportation Security Administration. Agents used bomb-sniffing dogs, a radioactive detector and an x-ray device but found no explosives.
But Tuesday night the x-ray machine scanned a small cargo truck and found several men inside, authorities told Channel 2’s John Bachman.
Federal immigration agents quickly pulled it aside and searched it. Bachman said officials told him little about the men inside, but they were investigating whether they are legal citizens and what they were doing in the back of a truck bound for inside access of the airport.
Federal agents later identified the men as seven illegal aliens who they said were processed for removal from the United States. Agents said the men had no ill intent against the country.
Truckers Bachman talked to said they were not surprised by the checkpoint.
"I think it's good. I mean it's time consuming, but it’s safety so it's something that needs to be done," said trucker Ronnie Bond
"They’ve been doing this two days and word travels through the street, so I wasn't surprised," said Bond.
Agents said they had no specific threat prompting the operation. http://www.wsbtv.com/news/26243923/detail.html