Prince Asare-Tandoh, 31, a Ghana native living in Minneapolis-St. Paul, who was detained in May, in a sweep of employees working in secure areas at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, has been charged with immigration violations.
He was charged with one count of falsely representing himself as a citizen, one count of using a false statement in an immigration matter and two counts of fraudulent use of a falsely obtained Social Security number.
Asare-Tandoh allegedly used the false statement and documents to get a job with LSG/Sky Chefs, which supplies food to airlines, and to obtain a badge that allowed him to enter secure airport areas.
The charges are the first stemming from a sweep of the airport by federal agents that resulted in the detention of 21 people, U.S. Attorney Thomas Heffelfinger announced today.
About half of those detained in the sweep were from Mexico, authorities said. Authorities focused on finding people working at jobs in secured areas at the airport despite not having permission to work in the United States.
In April, federal officials said they had arrested or indicted 450 workers at 15 airports on such charges as using phony Social Security numbers. The arrests have been criticized as an overdue response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Others said the arrests were a crackdown on poorly paid working people who have no connection to terrorism.
Prince Asare-Tandoh, 31, a Ghana native living in Minneapolis-St. Paul, who was detained in May, in a sweep of employees working in secure areas at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, has been charged with immigration violations.
He was charged with one count of falsely representing himself as a citizen, one count of using a false statement in an immigration matter and two counts of fraudulent use of a falsely obtained Social Security number.
Asare-Tandoh allegedly used the false statement and documents to get a job with LSG/Sky Chefs, which supplies food to airlines, and to obtain a badge that allowed him to enter secure airport areas.
The charges are the first stemming from a sweep of the airport by federal agents that resulted in the detention of 21 people, U.S. Attorney Thomas Heffelfinger announced today.
About half of those detained in the sweep were from Mexico, authorities said. Authorities focused on finding people working at jobs in secured areas at the airport despite not having permission to work in the United States.
In April, federal officials said they had arrested or indicted 450 workers at 15 airports on such charges as using phony Social Security numbers. The arrests have been criticized as an overdue response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Others said the arrests were a crackdown on poorly paid working people who have no connection to terrorism.
