The Miami Heral, Posted on Tue, Mar. 04, 2008
Agencies' merger spawns tension, arrests
BY JAY WEAVER AND ALFONSO CHARDY
Bribery. Drug trafficking. Migrant smuggling.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is supposed to stop these types of crimes. But instead, so many of its officers have been charged with committing those crimes themselves that their boss in Washington recently issued an alert about the ''disturbing events'' and the "increase in the number of employee arrests.''
Thomas S. Winkowski, assistant commissioner of field operations, wrote a memo to more than 20,000 officers nationwide noting that employees must behave professionally at all times -- even when they are not on the job.
''It is our responsibility to uphold the laws, not break the law,'' Winkowski wrote in the Nov. 16 memo obtained by The Miami Herald. Winkowski could not be reached for comment.
Winkowski's memo cites several employee arrests involving domestic violence, driving under the influence and drug possession. But court records show that CBP officers and other Department of Homeland Security employees from South Florida to the Mexican border states have been charged with dozens of far more serious offenses.
Among them: A Customs and Border Protection officer at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport was charged in February with conspiring to assist a New York drug ring under investigation by tapping into sensitive federal databases.
Winkowski's warning signals an overwhelming preoccupation with public perception in the post-9/11 era. Two highly controversial issues, illegal immigration and national security, have thrust the Department of Homeland Security into the public eye as it labors to prevent another terrorist attack.
The bureaucratic behemoth grew out of a controversial consolidation five years ago this week of several federal agencies, including the U.S. Customs Service and Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Employees of both agencies joined either of two new agencies: Customs and Border Protection or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known for their acronyms CBP and ICE.
CBP handles the border, airports and seaports, while ICE investigates immigration and customs law violators.
''We as an agency are constantly policing ourselves so that the public trust is not diminished as a result of inappropriate activity, whether it's on the job, off the job, criminal or not criminal,'' said Zachary Mann, a special agent and CBP spokesman in Miami.
Some ICE employees also have been caught up in episodes of alleged misconduct -- though a senior local official said he was not aware of any increase in criminal or administrative actions.
''I haven't noticed an uptick in misbehavior even though we have had a substantial increase in personnel since the merger,'' said Anthony Mangione, the ICE Miami special agent in charge.
Administrative incidents are normally kept quiet by federal authorities. But officials cannot control publicity when misconduct escalates to serious criminal behavior, such as the February case involving the CBP officer at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
Elizabeth Moran-Toala, a six-year veteran, allegedly accessed an electronic database known as TECS, or Treasury Enforcement Communications System, which serves as a tool to stop illegal drug imports.
According to an indictment, she is accused of tapping into the system several times to pass along information to a Delta Airlines baggage handler who was conspiring with a drug ring to transport cocaine and heroin on flights from the Dominican Republic to New York. Moran-Toala, 36, was transferred to New York in late February for prosecution.
Other recent South Florida cases -- mirroring a pattern on the border states -- have involved officers and agents accepting illegal payoffs for migrant smuggling, drug trafficking, witness tampering, embezzlement and rape.
CBP and ICE managers say these cases simply reflect individual criminal behavior, not the culture of the married agencies.
But some longtime employees said administrative incidents, such as hostile confrontations or heavy drinking, may reflect the low morale and intense rivalries following the merger of federal agencies under Homeland Security.
Some employees from the old INS are the most vocal in their complaints. They bitterly denounce employees who came from the old Customs Service for ''seizing control'' of both CBP and ICE, ''lording it over'' former INS employees and showing disdain toward immigration-related work.
Expected to improve efficiency, the merger has instead spawned tension. Both CBP and ICE scored near the bottom in a 2007 survey of employee satisfaction at 222 federal government agencies.
''It's become a cultural clash, tensions between officers from the merged agencies,'' said a Customs and Border Protection officer who asked not to be identified by name because he did not have authorization to speak publicly. "There's low morale and tension. Some people drink, others take it out on their colleagues or supervisors. It's no fun anymore.''
Mangione dismissed the notion that employee misbehavior is a result of post-merger friction.
''An employee smuggling aliens has nothing to do with the merger,'' said Mangione. "It's somebody being a criminal.''
Mangione, who came from Customs, noted that the second-in-command in the Miami ICE office -- Gabriel Garcia -- came from INS.
Although tension has generally not gone beyond arguments and insults, it may have been a factor behind a January brawl between two ICE employees at a Broward police association hall.
On Jan. 11, during a retirement party for a former INS officer, an ICE supervisor with a Customs background allegedly attacked an ICE agent with an INS background.
According to an internal document on the episode obtained by The Miami Herald, ICE group supervisor Mack Strong assaulted ICE senior special agent Francisco Meneses at the party held at the hall.
The altercation began when Strong used profanity to refer to another officer, also from INS, and Meneses asked Strong not to use such an expletive.
''Strong came at me again, grabbing me and throwing me down to the floor, where he continued to physically strike me with his fists,'' Meneses wrote in a memo that went to Mangione.
Neither Meneses nor Strong wanted to speak on the record.
Mangione said the case is being investigated: "All I can say is that it was turned over to the Office of Professional Responsibility and there it lies.''
Agencies' merger spawns tension, arrests
BY JAY WEAVER AND ALFONSO CHARDY
Bribery. Drug trafficking. Migrant smuggling.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is supposed to stop these types of crimes. But instead, so many of its officers have been charged with committing those crimes themselves that their boss in Washington recently issued an alert about the ''disturbing events'' and the "increase in the number of employee arrests.''
Thomas S. Winkowski, assistant commissioner of field operations, wrote a memo to more than 20,000 officers nationwide noting that employees must behave professionally at all times -- even when they are not on the job.
''It is our responsibility to uphold the laws, not break the law,'' Winkowski wrote in the Nov. 16 memo obtained by The Miami Herald. Winkowski could not be reached for comment.
Winkowski's memo cites several employee arrests involving domestic violence, driving under the influence and drug possession. But court records show that CBP officers and other Department of Homeland Security employees from South Florida to the Mexican border states have been charged with dozens of far more serious offenses.
Among them: A Customs and Border Protection officer at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport was charged in February with conspiring to assist a New York drug ring under investigation by tapping into sensitive federal databases.
Winkowski's warning signals an overwhelming preoccupation with public perception in the post-9/11 era. Two highly controversial issues, illegal immigration and national security, have thrust the Department of Homeland Security into the public eye as it labors to prevent another terrorist attack.
The bureaucratic behemoth grew out of a controversial consolidation five years ago this week of several federal agencies, including the U.S. Customs Service and Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Employees of both agencies joined either of two new agencies: Customs and Border Protection or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known for their acronyms CBP and ICE.
CBP handles the border, airports and seaports, while ICE investigates immigration and customs law violators.
''We as an agency are constantly policing ourselves so that the public trust is not diminished as a result of inappropriate activity, whether it's on the job, off the job, criminal or not criminal,'' said Zachary Mann, a special agent and CBP spokesman in Miami.
Some ICE employees also have been caught up in episodes of alleged misconduct -- though a senior local official said he was not aware of any increase in criminal or administrative actions.
''I haven't noticed an uptick in misbehavior even though we have had a substantial increase in personnel since the merger,'' said Anthony Mangione, the ICE Miami special agent in charge.
Administrative incidents are normally kept quiet by federal authorities. But officials cannot control publicity when misconduct escalates to serious criminal behavior, such as the February case involving the CBP officer at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
Elizabeth Moran-Toala, a six-year veteran, allegedly accessed an electronic database known as TECS, or Treasury Enforcement Communications System, which serves as a tool to stop illegal drug imports.
According to an indictment, she is accused of tapping into the system several times to pass along information to a Delta Airlines baggage handler who was conspiring with a drug ring to transport cocaine and heroin on flights from the Dominican Republic to New York. Moran-Toala, 36, was transferred to New York in late February for prosecution.
Other recent South Florida cases -- mirroring a pattern on the border states -- have involved officers and agents accepting illegal payoffs for migrant smuggling, drug trafficking, witness tampering, embezzlement and rape.
CBP and ICE managers say these cases simply reflect individual criminal behavior, not the culture of the married agencies.
But some longtime employees said administrative incidents, such as hostile confrontations or heavy drinking, may reflect the low morale and intense rivalries following the merger of federal agencies under Homeland Security.
Some employees from the old INS are the most vocal in their complaints. They bitterly denounce employees who came from the old Customs Service for ''seizing control'' of both CBP and ICE, ''lording it over'' former INS employees and showing disdain toward immigration-related work.
Expected to improve efficiency, the merger has instead spawned tension. Both CBP and ICE scored near the bottom in a 2007 survey of employee satisfaction at 222 federal government agencies.
''It's become a cultural clash, tensions between officers from the merged agencies,'' said a Customs and Border Protection officer who asked not to be identified by name because he did not have authorization to speak publicly. "There's low morale and tension. Some people drink, others take it out on their colleagues or supervisors. It's no fun anymore.''
Mangione dismissed the notion that employee misbehavior is a result of post-merger friction.
''An employee smuggling aliens has nothing to do with the merger,'' said Mangione. "It's somebody being a criminal.''
Mangione, who came from Customs, noted that the second-in-command in the Miami ICE office -- Gabriel Garcia -- came from INS.
Although tension has generally not gone beyond arguments and insults, it may have been a factor behind a January brawl between two ICE employees at a Broward police association hall.
On Jan. 11, during a retirement party for a former INS officer, an ICE supervisor with a Customs background allegedly attacked an ICE agent with an INS background.
According to an internal document on the episode obtained by The Miami Herald, ICE group supervisor Mack Strong assaulted ICE senior special agent Francisco Meneses at the party held at the hall.
The altercation began when Strong used profanity to refer to another officer, also from INS, and Meneses asked Strong not to use such an expletive.
''Strong came at me again, grabbing me and throwing me down to the floor, where he continued to physically strike me with his fists,'' Meneses wrote in a memo that went to Mangione.
Neither Meneses nor Strong wanted to speak on the record.
Mangione said the case is being investigated: "All I can say is that it was turned over to the Office of Professional Responsibility and there it lies.''
Es español, gracias a El Nuevo Herald; martes 04 de marzo del 2008;
Revelan arrestos y corrupción en agencia del gobierno
JAY WEAVER y ALFONSO CHARDY
jweaver@MiamiHerald.com
JAY WEAVER y ALFONSO CHARDY
jweaver@MiamiHerald.com
Sobornos. Tráfico de drogas. Contrabando de inmigrantes. Se supone que el Departamento de Aduanas y Protección de las Fronteras sea la agencia encargada de detener y prevenir este tipo de delitos, pero en su lugar tantos de sus funcionarios han sido acusados de cometer ellos mismos estos crímenes que recientemente, en Washington, D.C., el director del departamento dio la voz de alarma sobre estos ''perturbadores acontecimientos'', y el ''notable aumento en el número de empleados arrestados''.
Thomas S. Winkowski, comisionado asistente de operaciones de campo, le envió un memorando a más de 20,000 funcionarios de la agencia en todo el país, donde señalaba que debían comportarse de forma profesional en todo momento, aunque no estuvieran trabajando.
''Es nuestra responsabilidad hacer que se cumplan las leyes, no violarlas'', escribió Winkowski en el memorando con fecha 16 de noviembre que pudo obtener The Miami Herald. Winkowski no pudo ser localizado para que comentara sobre el problema.
En el memorando, Winkowski menciona varios arrestos de empleados por razones de violencia doméstica, manejar embriagado y posesión de drogas. Sin embargo, según documentos oficiales, empleados del Departamento de Aduanas y Protección de la Frontera y del Departamento de Seguridad Territorial del sur de la Florida y de los estados que lindan con la frontera mexicana han sido acusados de docenas de delitos mucho más graves.
Entre ellos: un funcionario de Aduanas y Protección de las Fronteras en el Aeropuerto Internacional de Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood fue acusado de conspirar para ayudar a que una red de narcotraficantes de Nueva York pudiera penetrar bases de datos federales sumamente confidenciales.
Algunos empleados también han sido capturados en episodios donde han tenido un comportamiento impropio, si bien un alto funcionario local dijo que no se ha informado de ningún aumento en acciones delictivas dentro del departamento.
''No he notado ningún incremento en los delitos, a pesar de que nuestro personal ha crecido significativamente en los últimos años'', dijo Anthony Mangione, agente especial de la agencia en el área del Gran Miami.
Entre otros casos recientes ocurridos en el sur de la Florida, han sido arrestados funcionarios por aceptar pagos por contrabando de ilegales, narcotráfico, soborno y agresiones sexuales.
Thomas S. Winkowski, comisionado asistente de operaciones de campo, le envió un memorando a más de 20,000 funcionarios de la agencia en todo el país, donde señalaba que debían comportarse de forma profesional en todo momento, aunque no estuvieran trabajando.
''Es nuestra responsabilidad hacer que se cumplan las leyes, no violarlas'', escribió Winkowski en el memorando con fecha 16 de noviembre que pudo obtener The Miami Herald. Winkowski no pudo ser localizado para que comentara sobre el problema.
En el memorando, Winkowski menciona varios arrestos de empleados por razones de violencia doméstica, manejar embriagado y posesión de drogas. Sin embargo, según documentos oficiales, empleados del Departamento de Aduanas y Protección de la Frontera y del Departamento de Seguridad Territorial del sur de la Florida y de los estados que lindan con la frontera mexicana han sido acusados de docenas de delitos mucho más graves.
Entre ellos: un funcionario de Aduanas y Protección de las Fronteras en el Aeropuerto Internacional de Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood fue acusado de conspirar para ayudar a que una red de narcotraficantes de Nueva York pudiera penetrar bases de datos federales sumamente confidenciales.
Algunos empleados también han sido capturados en episodios donde han tenido un comportamiento impropio, si bien un alto funcionario local dijo que no se ha informado de ningún aumento en acciones delictivas dentro del departamento.
''No he notado ningún incremento en los delitos, a pesar de que nuestro personal ha crecido significativamente en los últimos años'', dijo Anthony Mangione, agente especial de la agencia en el área del Gran Miami.
Entre otros casos recientes ocurridos en el sur de la Florida, han sido arrestados funcionarios por aceptar pagos por contrabando de ilegales, narcotráfico, soborno y agresiones sexuales.
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