Ten Illegal Immigrants Claiming to be Firefighters Arrested in California by Border Patrol

Customs and Border Patrol arrested ten individuals present in the United States illegally in California last week, catching the aliens in the hire of a private firefighting company.

Ten Mexican nationals, nine men and one woman, were arrested at an immigration checkpoint on Highway 86 in southern California on August 12th. The individuals were traveling for their work as a privately contracted fire crew for an Oregon-based company. A CBP investigation revealed that nine of the ten unlawful immigrants were using social security numbers belonging to living and deceased Americans to obtain employment in the United States. Three illegals were also caught possessing fraudulent permanent resident documents.

The social security fraudsters have been referred for prosecution on identity theft grounds, and have been transported to CBP’s Central Processing Center for processing. Investigation into the sophisticated identity theft operation is ongoing.

CBP issued a press release on the matter on Thursday.

After a months-long slowdown in illegal immigration attributed to the coronavirus, international drug and human smuggling organizations have sharply increased their activities in July and August, hoping to recoup some of the lost profits they have incurred in 2020. Some of the strictest border control and immigration enforcement policies in decades remain in place, with DHS and CBP utilizing special expulsion policies that allow illegal aliens to be repatriated in hours as an alternative to the byzantine and costly immigration court system.

It’s a major security risk to have illegal aliens working in the sensitive field of emergency management and firefighting, not to mention impersonating the identity of American citizens.