TSA and ICE to cut down on alien flight lessons
by the end of this month, instead of being deported, his lawyer said.
Of the thirty-four arrested from the Stow school last year, three have been allowed to return to Brazil voluntarily and two others were deported, said Chuck Jackson, spokesman for US Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which made the arrests. The rest are in removal proceedings, he said.
Vaughan suggested that several federal agencies should assume part of the responsibility for screening illegal immigrants from flight schools.
The FAA could check immigration status before issuing a pilot’s license, she said, and the TSA and ICE could ensure that immigrants are not continuing to fly airplanes after their visas expire.
“Everyone seems to be passing the buck,’’ she said.
Christopher Willenborg, administrator for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation Aeronautics Division, which oversees thirty-six public and private noncommercial airports in Massachusetts, said he has seen better coordination since media reported the incident.
The TSA and ICE appear to be working together more, he said, and TSA agents are showing up more frequently at airports.
In addition, airport managers plan to meet soon with immigration officials, and the aeronautics division is updating its security directives at the airports.
At Massport’s Hanscom Field, all flight students and pilots must undergo a criminal background check and obtain a security badge, in addition to whatever the TSA requires, said spokesman Richard Walsh. If they are foreign nationals, Walsh said, their badge expires when their visa does.
He said the airport, among the busiest noncommercial airports in New England, instituted the requirements after 9/11 as an added layer of security.
“We do more than what is required because security is our first priority,’’ said Walsh.
But at Minute Man Air Field, which is a much smaller airport off a quiet country road in Stow, there are no such requirements. Airport owner Don McPherson said checking immigration status is the federal government’s responsibility.
“I don’t think it’s up to the airports [to question immigration status]. It’s out of our jurisdiction,’’ he said. “Most airport managers have tenants that provide flight training, and it’s the tenant’s responsibility to follow those rules.’’
Eli Luria, who opened his own flight school, Tenle Aviation Inc., in the same location that TJ Aviation vacated in Stow, said he told a TSA agent that he would monitor the visas himself to ensure that none of his foreign students take lessons with expired visas.
“Basically I’ve made my own commitment to myself that when I do have an alien that wants to do training, that I’ll verify his visa on my own, even though it’s not a requirement,’’ said Luria, who was a part-time instructor at TJ Aviation.
