AURORA, Colo. - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents this morning, in partnership with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI), arrested 122 illegal aliens here who were working for subcontractors responsible for building military family housing for Buckley Air Force Base.

The illegal aliens were working for Hunt Building Co. LTD building multi-family housing units.

The aliens were arrested after they were determined to be illegally residing and working in the United States. Those arrested are citizens of the following countries: Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. All are men ranging in age from 18 to 50 years old.

Today's action is part of ICE's critical infrastructure worksite enforcement operation. Under this program, ICE works closely with industries, such as airports, power plants, oil refineries, and military bases, to secure them from the risk of terrorist attacks posed by unauthorized workers employed in secure areas of our nation's critical infrastructure facilities.

"ICE is aggressively pursing illegal aliens at the places where they work," said Jeffrey Copp, special agent-in-charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Denver. "The area of critical infrastructure is especially important to local and national security. These facilities must know the people who have access their worksites." Copp oversees a four-state region, which includes: Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

"We're attacking this critical infrastructure issue from all sides," said Copp. "In addition to our worksite enforcement operations, we've also established a task force of many local, state and federal agencies to address the fraudulent documents used to obtain access to these facilities."

The aliens arrested today will be quickly processed and ultimately returned to their country of origin. However, three aliens have been discovered with outstanding criminal warrants, and have been turned over to Aurora Police Department for disposition so they can answer to those charges.

Knowingly hiring illegal aliens is a violation of immigration law. ICE aggressively pursues criminal charges against employers who egregiously violate theses laws. Already this fiscal year, ICE has arrested more than 400 individuals on criminal charges in worksite investigations and apprehended another 2,700 illegal workers on immigration violations.

Aliens who re-enter the United States after having been deported face felony charges, and sentences up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

This worksite enforcement operation is part of the Secure Border Initiative (SBI), a comprehensive multi-year plan by the Department of Homeland Security to secure America's borders and reduce illegal migration. Under SBI, Homeland Security seeks to gain operational control of both the northern and southern borders, while re-engineering the detention and removal system to ensure that illegal aliens are removed from the country quickly and efficiently. SBI also involves strong interior enforcement efforts, including enhanced worksite enforcement investigations and intensified efforts to track down and remove illegal aliens inside this country.

This is an ongoing investigation.

-- ICE --