All of this talk about background checks and NCIC procedure is well and good, but how do illegal immigrants wind up with jobs that allow them access to allegedly secure areas of airports? Several times in the last few years, numerous illegals have been arrested in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, and at Dulles, among other airports. See e.g. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/...rt_Arrests.php (Atlanta); http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news...99/detail.html (Boston);http://www.usatoday.com/news/sept11/...rt-workers.htm (numerous airports); and
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...061401107.html (Dulles).

These repeated failures to weed out people who by definition should not be working in "secure" areas points out the limitations of background checks. This is another gaping hole in the United States facade of aviation security, right up there with lack of screening of commercial cargo transported on airliners. Screen passengers and flight crews, to give Joe Six Pack who flies once every 18 months the impression that TSA secures airports. But the truth is far less rosy.