Arrests raise security questions for Logan

Massachusetts Port Authority officials huddled in a marathon meeting yesterday to examine how, for the second time since the 2001 terrorist attacks, undocumented workers obtained passes to some of the most secure areas of Logan International Airport.

Fourteen Brazilian immigrants, who authorities say are in the country illegally, were arrested at the airport late last week.

In 2002, immigration officials had arrested 20 undocumented workers, most of whom were charged with falsifying information on their employment applications.

Massport had pledged to upgrade its security procedures for custodial workers and others after the 2002 raid, which included arrests of six security workers.

Danny Levy, a Massport spokeswoman, declined to elaborate on yesterday's meeting, but said it would be unfair to compare last week's arrests to a roundup of 20 undocumented workers at the airport in 2002.

There are no signs that any of the 14 people arrested last week were involved in terrorist activity, said Robin Avers, special agent in charge of the Boston office of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

However, Avers said, ''We are systematically identifying vulnerabilities that pose a threat to public safety or national security, then working aggressively to shut them down."

Thirteen of those arrested last week will be scheduled for deportation to their native Brazil, and one already had a deportation order issued by an immigration judge, said Jamie Zuieback, a spokesman for the agency. Two additional workers involved are juveniles.

The arrests last week at Logan were part of a nationwide crackdown dubbed Operation Tarmac.

The access the workers had to secure areas could blemish the image of the authority that runs Logan, which has prided itself in pioneering aviation security measures since two planes hijacked in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks took off from the airport.

Federal and state officials have faulted Hurley of America, the subcontractor that employed the 14 recently arrested workers, for not confirming their immigration status. Authorities have also blamed Hurley, which is based in Stoneham, for not closely monitoring employees who work in secure areas.

Hurley officials yesterday defended their actions.

''As a service company CEO and owner, neither I nor the organization has the wherewithal to determine if someone is illegal or not," said Hurley CEO Bart Munro.

Munro said the company verified each employee's identity through a picture ID or government-issued immigration document.

Munro said Hurley does that verification, as well as a criminal background check, for each of its 700 employees in four states, 140 of them at Logan.

''And the law clearly states that we have to accept, unless it is obvious that the documents are fraudulent or have been doctored in any other way, we have to accept those documents as they are," he said.

''We're not forensic experts . . . If things go on beyond our control, frankly it's beyond our control . . . We're not the people at the border who check the immigration cards," Munro said.

He said officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement have scheduled a meeting to go over employee records next week.

Mac Daniel can be reached at mdaniel@globe.com.