Illegal Immigrants Arrested With Fake I.D. at Fort Bragg

July 18, 2006 -- -- More than four dozen illegal immigrants have been arrested in recent days trying to get access to the Fort Bragg U.S. Army installation in North Carolina. Almost all were using fake identification.

Fort Bragg is far from alone. Immigration and customs agents have been arresting hundreds of undocumented workers at some of the nation's most sensitive facilities.

"This year, ICE has arrested a record number of employers who hire illegal aliens as well as thousands of illegal alien workers," said Julie L. Myers, assistant secretary of homeland security for ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

In June, agents arrested dozens of illegal immigrants working at a secure location at Dulles International Airport. One of the undocumented construction workers at Dulles had a security badge that gave him direct access to the airport tarmac. Since 911, at 196 of the nation's airports, federal agents have discovered more than 1,100 undocumented workers.

Arrests have also been made at the Naval Surface War Center in Indian Head, Maryland, a seaport in Oakland, California, the Crystal River Nuclear Power plant in Florida and the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. And last year, a Texas company that provided MREs (meals ready to eat) for U.S. troops in Iraq pleaded guilty to falsifying documents so it could hire illegal immigrants. Sources tell ABC News there is now a multi-million dollar black market industry producing fake ID to help undocumented immigrants get jobs.

While there is no evidence these recent cases are tied to terrorism, that is a nagging concern for the government.

"The fact of the matter is, that if they are using phony documents and we don't know who these people are, there's a chance that they could be terrorists or criminals with sinister intentions," John Clark, deputy assistant secretary for ICE told ABC News in June. "It's a huge problem, so we have to concentrate on the areas we think are going to be the most dangerous to the public."