In what appears to be a lucky case, an unidentified man was taken into custody at the Santa Monica Airport for allegedly smuggling two illegal aliens into the United States from Mexico.
The man was detained Sept. 10 by Immigration and Naturalization Service agents only because he didn’t obey a basic airport rule requiring cars to stop momentarily after passing through a security gate.
Officials said the man was found with two Mexican citizens in his car while attempting to leave the airport. Just minutes before, the man flew his airplane into Santa Monica after returning from a short trip to San Diego.
Francisco Arcaute, spokesman for the Los Angeles INS office, wouldn’t confirm or deny the incident occurred on the grounds that the probe is still underway. Now that the INS is a branch of the Homeland Security Office, it has the ability to keep what used to be public information under wraps. Arcaute said he expects to make an announcement about the investigation early this week.
It’s unknown if the pilot was released, or if the illegal aliens were deported.
The man, who keeps his airplane at Santa Monica Airport, reportedly flew back with two passengers. Airport security officers halted him because he failed to stop after passing through the security gate, which requires an access card to open and close.
Once he opened the gate with the card, he kept driving instead of letting the gate close behind him, which prevents anyone else from entering the airport area.
“You have to wait so no other cars follow you in,” said Santa Monica Airport Manager Bob Trimborn. “So security stopped him and they somehow ascertained that the two passengers were illegals. They were pretty nervous. Wouldn’t you be?”
Airport security officers detained the group and immediately called INS. Agents reportedly took the man into custody and impounded both his plane and car.
While the card access system was installed in August to make the airport more secure, security officers only stopped the pilot because he failed to wait for the gate to close completely before driving away.
“I guess it was just one of those things,” Trimborn said, adding that Santa Monica Airport is much more secure than most general aviation airports in Southern California.
“It’s pretty risky to do that at this airport,” he said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 22, 2003. Read the original PDF.