Brian Wilson
Potential INS Whistleblower Fired
Fri Nov 2 11:32:16 2001


Potential INS Whistleblower Fired

Thursday, November 01, 2001
By Brian Wilson


A 30-year Immigration and Naturalization
Service border patrol veteran has been
fired, most likely because he wanted to
testify before Congress about his
experiences, said a Republican lawmaker.

The agent, who has asked not to be
identified, was given his walking papers on
Oct. 10 and will be out of a job 30 days from that date, according to Rep. Tom
Tancredo, R-Colo.

Tancredo said Wednesday that the agent received the notice after he was
asked to testify before the House's Immigration Reform Caucus, a
30-member group which Tancredo chairs.

Tancredo said the INS at first approved of the agent's testifying but with
restrictions. Later, Tancredo's office was contacted by the Justice
Department and told the agent could not testify at all, the congressman said.

The INS has called Tancredo’s assertions "not credible."

Tancredo has proposed the creation of a new border patrol security agency
to replace the INS in order to stem the flow of illegal aliens into the country at
the north and south borders.

Tancredo, an immigration hawk, has said the INS has a conflict of interest in
trying to stem illegal immigration while facilitating legal immigration. He said
it has a serious enforcement problem, considering that nearly 300,000
individuals ordered deported from the United States are not accounted for by
the INS.

Tancredo said that the agent had a "firsthand account on the inner workings
of the agency," and was a threat to its livelihood.

Tancredo "had hoped to have a hearing, not a press conference,"
Wednesday but said that the INS "whistleblower" had not been released to
testify.

"I believe Governor Ridge when he says this is a time for candor and
disclosure, but it appears INS is not getting the message," Tancredo said.

"It is clear that if we are going to secure our borders and protect our country
then we must end INS as we know it and form a new agency that has the
ability and the will to enforce the law," he added.

The congressman has been on the forefront of a movement that is calling for
increased vigilance at the borders in the wake of the attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11. Earlier this month, Tancredo
said he was designing a bill that would place a six-month moratorium on
immigration so that the current system could be improved.

When asked if the congressman had planned to look into the agent's
termination, spokesman Greg Meyer said, "We are obviously very interested
in providing whatever assistance we can to him. Right now, I couldn’t give
you a point of action to take."

Fox News' Kelley Beaucar contributed to this report.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,37791,00.html
=====================================================================

INS ON LINE:
President Signs USA PATRIOT Act into Law President Bush signed the
USA PATRIOT Act on October 25. Attorney General Ashcroft vows immediate
implementation. The Act's main immigration provisions
are in Title IV.
http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/index.htm


INS Recruiting Border Patrol Agents and Detention Enforcement Officers
http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/index.htm