VENTURA : Border Patrol Examines Hotel’s Worker Rolls

Border Patrol agents are examining employee and payroll records at the Holiday Inn in Ventura after an inspection last month disclosed 62 illegal aliens working there, an agent said Wednesday.

The workers apparently had counterfeit documentation, according to hotel officials and Michael Molloy, agent in charge of the Oxnard Border Patrol station.

The employees were not arrested, Molloy said, but the hotel was asked to terminate them. “Given our resources, it would have been extremely difficult to arrest them all,” Molloy said. They were employed on a variety of shifts in the housekeeping and banquet areas.

Molloy said his agents conducted the inspection April 22. He said the case remains under investigation until the audit is concluded.

Shawn Atkisson, general manager of the Holiday Inn, said the hotel had no idea the workers were illegal because they all had what appeared to be proper documentation.

“It’s very hard to tell a fake ID,” he said. The hotel is working with Immigration and Naturalization Service officials to determine a way to spot counterfeit identification, he said.

He said those workers with faulty documentation have been terminated and as a result the hotel has 15 job openings.

In another case, Molloy reported that Border Patrol agents Tuesday notified an Oxnard restaurant that it will be targeted for a $1,600 fine because it employed four undocumented workers and because its employment records were not properly maintained.