Immigration choice as bad as FEMA's Brown

Immigration choice as bad as FEMA's Brown
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Tuesday, September 27, 2005

The Bush administration should have learned enough from Mike Brown's downfall about the consequences of putting political hacks in critical positions. Yet, only days after Mr. Brown's forced departure as FEMA director, the administration was asking Congress to approve another unqualified candidate for an important job.

Julie Myers, 36, is the White House nominee to head Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but when she appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, it quickly became clear that there's virtually nothing on her résumé that qualifies her — no significant experience in customs, immigration or hands-on law-enforcement work. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, was so disturbed that he called on the administration and Ms. Myers to explain themselves. Her answer was that she would "seek to work with those who are knowledgeable in this area, who know more than I do." That list would include about everyone in the agency.
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Ms. Myers has held a number of low- to mid-level management jobs in the departments of Commerce, Justice and Treasury, but nothing that adequately prepares her to manage 20,000 ICE employees and a $4 billion budget. The agency is central to Homeland Security's mission. ICE is responsible for preventing terrorists from getting into the country and also must intercept arms and drug smugglers. Ms. Myers currently works as a special assistant who deals with personnel matters for President Bush. Perhaps she can claim that the White House hired no terrorist on her watch.

What Ms. Myers definitely can claim is good connections. Her husband is chief of staff for Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, and she is the niece of Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She also has worked for former special prosecutor Ken Starr and helped build the impeachment case against President Clinton and the prosecution of Susan McDougal, assignments that endear her to the conservative wing of the Republican Party. As far as credentials go, Ms. Myers' best offerings are nepotism and political subversion.

The top spot at ICE is no place for on-the-job training. Incompetence in directing the nation's anti-terrorist defenses could have disastrous consequences and put lives in jeopardy. The last thing Americans need is another Brownie.

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The blogosphere burns the witch (?) Julie Myers
RedState.org - Sep 24, 2005
More to the point, I wonder if the conservative blogosphere is too eagerly joining into feeding frenzies, such as the outrage over Julie Myers and Michael Brown ...
http://smagar.redstate.org/story/2005/9/24/112515/657

ICE Internet Home Page
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement banner · ICE · ABOUT · Organization ·
Organizational Chart · Leadership · Acting Assistant Secretary · Chief of Staff ...
http://www.ice.gov/graphics/

U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement

ICE is composed of the following operational divisions:

* Office of Investigations - responsible for investigating a range of issues, including human trafficking, narcotics, weapons and all other contraband smuggling; export enforcement, such as investigating illegal arms exports and exports of dual-use equipment that may threaten national security; financial crimes, such as money laundering, terrorist financing, commercial fraud, intellectual property rights (including commercial counterfeiting) violations; cybercrime; immigration crime; and human rights violations; violations of the criminal and administrative provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and other related provisions of the United States Code.

* Office of Detention and Removal - responsible for promoting public safety and national security by ensuring the departure from the United States of all removable aliens through the fair enforcement of the nation's immigration laws.

* Office of the Federal Air Marshal Service - responsible for promoting confidence in the U.S. civil aviation system through the effective deployment of sky marshals to detect, deter and defeat hostile acts targeting U.S. air carriers, airports, passengers and crews. Formerly part of the Federal Aviation Administration, it was supposed to be transferred to the Transportation Security Administration but never was.

* Office of the Federal Protective Service - responsible for policing, securing and ensuring a safe environment in which federal agencies can conduct their business by reducing threats posed against the more than 8,800 General Services Administration-controlled facilities nationwide. It employs over 2000 security police officers and over 15000 contract security guards.

* Office of Intelligence - responsible for the collection, analysis and dissemination of strategic and tactical intelligence data for use by the operational elements of ICE and the DHS; responsible for the collection, analysis, and dissemination of intelligence to immigration staff at all levels to aid in making day-to-day, mid-term, and long-term operational decisions; acquiring and allocating resources; and determining policy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement

Immigration Benefits & Information
Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman
The Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman (CIS Ombudsman) was created pursuant to Section 452 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002.
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/theme_home4.jsp