INS Arrests 2 Men in Fake Documents

About 100,000 counterfeit immigration and identification documents were seized and two men were arrested Thursday in what Immigration and Naturalization Service agents described as one of their most successful raids in Southern California.

The phony documents include driver’s licenses, birth certificates and so-called green cards--INS cards, now pink, that certify the eligibility of noncitizens to work in this country.

INS District Director Richard K. Rogers said the counterfeits are of good quality and probably would fool anyone not very familiar with such documents.

He said the seizure “will definitely have an effect” on the ability of illegal immigrants to find work in this area.

Rogers estimated that 25% of the noncitizens seeking work in this area carry counterfeit documentation. He said the phony documents are widely sold in places frequented by immigrants, most notably the MacArthur Park area.

Documents purchased at the park by undercover agents led investigators to the home of Eduardo Plascencia-Heredia, 32, in the MacArthur Park area, where about 10,000 documents were found, Rogers said. He said further investigation led the agents to the home of Benjamin Velez-Vasquez, 38, in Long Beach, where an additional 90,000 documents were found.

Also found at the Long Beach home were plates, negatives and inks used to make the fake documents, Rogers said.

Plascencia-Heredia and Velez-Vasquez--neither of whom is a U.S. citizen--were arraigned on counterfeiting charges Thursday in Los Angeles Federal Court.

A pilot program that enables business firms to use computers and dedicated phone lines to check the authenticity of immigration documentation is being tested by 230 Southern California employers--including Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland. Rogers said it is hoped that the system will be widely used throughout the country by the turn of the century.