The Associated Press
ONTARIO, Calif. (AP) - A Homeland Security sweep led to 14 arrests at Ontario International Airport on Thursday, uncovering what authorities say were immigration violations by employees with access to secure areas, including places where airliners are parked.
The raid dubbed “Operation Tarmac” was aimed at about 120 employees who allegedly used phony identities at Los Angeles International, Long Beach Municipal and John Wayne airports, as well as Ontario.
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles would only say the operation was ongoing and there would be no further comment until a Friday morning news conference.
State Department of Motor Vehicles investigators and law enforcement officers from five federal agencies, including the Immigration and Naturalization Service, conducted the sweep. At Ontario, the raid began about 9:30 a.m., said Airport Police Acting Chief David Hanlon.
Ontario International has about 1,000 workers.
“It was very low-key,” Hanlon said of the operation. “They talked to the people they were looking for and they took them away.”