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   WARWICK, R.I. (AP) - Six T.F. Green Airport employees have been arrested after background checks found eight employees in violation of immigration laws, federal officials announced Thursday.
   Federal and state agencies, working with the U.S. Attorney's Anti-Terrorism Task Force, took six months to check the backgrounds of 4,000 workers who have access to secure areas of the airport.
   They were checked for prior felony arrests, false statements on applications and other indications of security risks or fraud, officials said.
   ``It's important to note that ... only eight were found to have questionable backgrounds,'' U.S. Attorney Margaret Curran said in a statement. ``Those results demonstrate that, overall, the screening procedures for the hiring and oversight of staff and contractors at Green Airport have been effective and that the system works.''
   The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested six of the eight employees with alleged immigration violations, officials said. The other two were not located, but their airport
identification cards were deactivated.
   Procedures have been implemented to check new employees and contractors who apply for secure airport access cards and rescreen some current employees.
   No further information on the arrests was immediately available. The nationalities of those arrested were not immediately clear.
   Messages left Thursday by The Associated Press at the offices of Rhode Island Airport Corp. spokeswoman Patti Goldstein and at the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Providence were not immediately returned.