U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have launched an investigation into an undisclosed number of Hill contractors after arresting 25 foreign nationals who have been hired illegally to work on the base.
Most workers never made it through the gates, having presented fraudulent Social Security cards or immigration documents, or no identification at all. Four employees were arrested inside the perimeter while working on construction projects.
Jonathan Lines, resident agent in charge of the Ogden office for ICE, said officials have no reason to believe that the foreigners meant any harm. However, the breach of base security still is troubling, he said.
"In this post-9/11 climate, you never can be too careful," he said. "Anyone who would conceal or disguise their identity is a concern for us."
The arrests come less than a year after immigration officials discovered nine undocumented immigrants working inside the secretive Dugway Proving Ground. The workers, employed by the Salt Lake City-based construction company Spacecon West, had access to some parts of a research installation devoted to biological and chemical weapons defense, authorities said.
Like the Dugway incident, the immigrants arrested at Hill also worked in the construction industry, performing landscaping, clean-up and other trades. Lines declined to say who hired the employees, only that the individuals - 24 men and one woman - were employed by more than one construction company.
Authorities arrested four workers inside the base Tuesday. The rest were captured over the past two months while trying to enter the base gates.
ICE agents now plan to probe into the companies' hiring practices to determine whether they are culpable in part for the security breach. Those employers could face a fine or criminal action if they willfully hired an undocumented immigrant or ignored his immigration status, authorities say.
In the meantime, all 25 workers will face deportation hearings.
While the workers at Hill may have wanted to make a living and nothing more, Lines said immigration officials can't take the chance that one of them may have something else in mind.
"Those who want to do us harm only have to be right once," he said.
jstettler@sltrib.com
