July 9, 2002
The Honorable James W. Ziglar
Commissioner
Immigration and Naturalization Service
425 Eye Street, NW, Suite 7100
Washington, DC 20536
Dear Commissioner,
As the ranking member of the Senate Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs, I am concerned about reports of problems at the Immigration and Naturalization Service's Law Enforcement Support Center ("LESC") in Williston, Vermont. I ask that you provide me information relating to these reports.
As you know, the LESC was created to respond to requests by federal, state and local law enforcement agents nationwide in order to advise them whether an arrestee in their custody is also wanted by the INS. If so, the arrestee can be detained until the INS takes him into federal custody. For the most part, the LESC is staffed by about 200 technicians who take information from callers and run a system check to determine whether the arrestee is wanted by the INS. If a positive identification is made, local INS agents are contacted so that an INS arrest warrant can be lodged. While the LESC is a tremendously important tool for our national security, I am concerned that it is being mismanaged, wasted and underutilized.
I.Questions About Management Issues At The LESC
Carol Chasse is the director of the LESC. As you may know, the Justice Department Inspector General (IG) found that Ms. Chasse, as an INS regional director, was one of the persons most responsible for a scheme to mislead the Congressional Task Force on Immigration Reform during its fact-finding visit to the Miami District of INS, including the Krome Service Processing Center, in June of 1995. The scheme involved releasing or transporting aliens in INS custody so that the INS facilities would not appear overcrowded or understaffed. See the Miami INS Report, Conclusions on Administrative Responsibility, www.usdoj.gov/oig/insmi956/miafile7.htm.
The Inspector General's report states: "We conclude, therefore, that despite her denials or professed failures of recall, Chasse was responsible for making the decision to reduce the Krome population in order to create a false picture of conditions at the facility for the Task Force." The report also states: "Chasse bears responsibility for fostering and approving an overall approach to the Delegation's visit that was not forthright."
Moreover, the report notes that Ms. Chasse continued to deny she committed wrongdoing, despite the sum of evidence against her. To wit: "We are again seriously troubled by Chasse's failure, after the allegations were made public, to come forth with the truth." The report further states: "In other words, she contended that her instruction was issued to address a problem, and not because of the proximity of the Delegation's upcoming visit. In light of the lack of activity towards that goal until the day before the Delegation's arrival, the speed with which it was ultimately accomplished, and the accompanying violation of routine practices and newly issued policies, we do not find that claim to be credible."
The IG recommended that she receive a punishment ranging from a 30 day suspension to termination. As I understand it, Ms. Chasse received a one day suspension, and then was put in charge of the more than 200 employees at LESC.
I have received several troubling reports about Ms. Chasse's management of the LESC, and ask that you provide further information.
1)Who made the decision to give Ms. Chasse a one-day suspension, what was the rationale for that decision, and what other punishment ? if any ? was given to Ms. Chasse for her role in the above-referenced scheme? In addition, please explain who made the decision to place Ms. Chasse in her current position, why that decision was made, and what other positions Ms. Chasse has held at the INS. Please provide all documents related to these decisions, including information on her salary and compensation in each of the positions.
2)Please provide to me all information, including any and all documents, regarding an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigation into the termination of Zancy Von Hooks. Your response should include all documents created by LESC employees in response to the EEOC investigation.
3)Please provide to me any and all information relating the LESC's response to LESC agent Tom May's request for a desk audit of his position from the Office of Personnel Management, because he believed that he was doing work well beneath the level of criminal investigator for which he was hired. Please also provide information regarding the decision by the LESC to detail Mr. May's wife from the LESC to Boston, Massachusetts, shortly after Mr. May requested the desk audit.
4)Please provide to me any and all information relating to the formal reprimand received by agent Steve Letares when he complained about the LESC's response to a military request for an INS investigation of certain military pilots after September 11, 2001.
II.Questions About The Use Of Resources At The LESC
I also have several questions about the use of criminal investigative agents at the LESC. I am told that the LESC staffs approximately 15 law enforcement investigative agents (1811-series law enforcement agents). Although these agents are trained to investigate crimes, I have been told that they are forbidden from carrying weapons inside the LESC, are forbidden to leave the premises to investigate cases, and that they lack Internet access. Instead, they are relegated to the task of running the information obtained by the technicians against the INS database, and then faxing identification information to local authorities so that they can make an affirmative identification. Indeed, the LESC describes its primary functions as purely administrative:
? Receive queries via law enforcement agencies (LEAs)
? Query INS indices for corresponding information
? Respond to LEAs informing them of a match or no-match
? Notify appropriate INS field offices if an arrest is appropriate
? Maintain a database of all inquiries.
In addition, I understand that the LESC employs seven supervisory special agents to supervise the 15 investigative agents. I am concerned that, given the purpose of the LESC, the INS is wasting valuable investigative dollars at the LESC. I ask that you provide answers to the following questions.
1)Please provide me a list of all employees at the LESC, their titles, pay grades, and duties. Include in your response a flow-chart denoting the lines of authority at the LESC. In addition, please provide the LESC's turnover ratio for the past 5 years.
2)Please provide to me statistics detailing the number of investigations opened and closed by LESC 1811 agents, and the number of arrests that have been made by LESC 1811 agents.
3)Please provide to me any and all information relating to the LESC's response to the September 11, 2001 attacks, including decisions relating to the use of LESC 1811 agents.
4)Please provide a full explanation of the LESC's role in the investigations pertaining to three men wanted by the INS: Cristian Gutierrez, John Osi, and Manfred Otto Adolf Boettcher.
5)Please provide any and all information related to the INS's response to the May 9, 2002 Step 2 Class Action Union Grievance filed by LESC special agents in which they challenge their classifications as special agents. If the INS has not responded, please explain why, and whether the INS intends to respond to the grievance.
In each of your responses, please provide any and all documents that support or relate to your response.
Please provide this information by July 26, 2002.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Grassley
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs
cc: The Honorable John Ashcroft
Attorney General
Department of Justice