The Immigration and Naturalization Service has arrested four Kenyan distance runners for working illegally as airport security guards in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The four runners are on student visas at Dineh College in Shiprock, New Mexico. Aside from violating INS employment regulations, the employment at the airport also many violate Federal Aviation Administration regulations restricting employment in high security areas of the airport. The Federal Aviation Administration is also investigating the illegal employment.
The four runners are considered to be some of the best runners in junior college in the United States, according to Rauli Uitto, an offical at the Los Angeles-based US Track and Field Association.
Students are permitted to work on campus for up to twenty hours a week during the school year and up to forty hours per week during school holidays. The students appear to have violated their status by working off campus without INS authorization and outside of their academic field. INS authorization can be granted for off campus employment, but the students are required to work in their fields of study.
The students face deportation and MAXaero, the employer, faces fines of up to $2000 per worker.
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