High-Ranking Homeland Security Official Repeatedly Hired Undocumented Workers

Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly at 8:20 AM on December 7, 2008.

If you work as a high-ranking border official, it's probably not a good idea to knowingly and repeatedly hire immigrants who entered the country illegally to clean your house.

It's one of those obvious lessons that Lorraine Henderson apparently forgot.

Lorraine Henderson, the regional director of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, was arrested Friday at her home in Salem. She was expected to appear in federal court later Friday.

 

Henderson is responsible for stopping illegal aliens from entering the country through the Port of Boston.

But according to an affidavit, for several years Henderson employed a Brazilian housekeeper who was an illegal immigrant. She also allegedly hired two other illegal immigrants, even after fellow agents warned her it was against the law.

Henderson was arrested after one of the women wore a wire and recorded Henderson telling the woman to "be careful" because once you're deported, "you will never be back."

The irony is rich.

Tagged as: immigration, homeland security, henderson