Another great story Debbie. You are so (ALWAYS) spot on.

I’m surprised you didn’t catch this article on the gun-dealing ICE agent tied to two shootings.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-07-26/vermont-gun-travels/56503588/1

soitgoes on September 15, 2012 at 9:01 am

Wow, what a hard worker, she takes her work home with her. Give that gal a promotion.

ender on September 15, 2012 at 10:42 am

Betcha in the packet the “immigrants” receive for their green card will be a voters registration form.

Rochelle on September 15, 2012 at 1:35 pm

Federal bureaucrats: Failing to do a job most Americans WOULD do.

P. Aaron on September 15, 2012 at 2:23 pm

What is sao surprising? These illegals will be voting in November and are the reason the fascist nlacks holder er i mean half-black or half-breed Obama are blocking voter ID.

Obama that dirty piece of crap will do anything to fix this election!

bob on September 15, 2012 at 3:11 pm

When the Democrat National Convention has a featured speaker at the podium who is identified as an illegal, why would anyone want to charge an ICE worker who harbors illegals? They’re probably mad because she charged them $100.

My Dad was watching the convention on BSNBC with the sound off, but the graphic BSNBC used identified the speaker not as an ILLEGAL, but as an “Undocumented Future American.” Gag me.

DG in GA on September 15, 2012 at 3:57 pm

That is stunning Debbie. I didn’t think ICE corruption could get any worse. I also hope this info gets added to the Congressional investigation headed up by Republican Rep. Michael McCaul that you got started.

I hope that cow gets twenty years in the crapper.

nobama on September 15, 2012 at 6:48 pm

Ladies and gentlemen, we have another martyr for the left. Watch her take the “high ground” claiming to be more humane than the prosecutors of her case. So disgusting.

samurai on September 15, 2012 at 9:05 pm

Thank you again Debbie. I want to see her in an orange jumpsuit doing the perp walk.

Dtom on September 15, 2012 at 11:05 pm

DHS/ICE/CBP & CIS are every bit as embarrassing as [legacy] INS ever was. Little more than immigration theater.

#1 Vato on September 15, 2012 at 11:42 pm

When you hear the word “smuggler”, it really means drug cartel. That is a big business for them. It also allows these illegals to pay off their debt by acting as mules for the real cash crop.

Worry01 on September 16, 2012 at 5:34 am

WITSEC activities combined with all the various US national security agencies which are operating overseas and all the foreign visitors, legal and not so legal, which might find themselves WITSEC eligible have created an administrative nightmare for a federal bureaucracy already incapable of dealing with everyday immigration issues. The case of Helmet man in KC on Friday might be comical if it also wasn’t so damning of a government which has lost control.

Gee if I was a foreign drug cartel or for intel service wouldn’t it be great to know someone inside of witsec programs?

This is the crap that happens when you fail to screen not only visitors, and immigrants to the country but also fail to screen the screeners.

db on September 16, 2012 at 10:28 am

ICE hires gang members who openly display their gang tattoos, white supremacists, people who are, clearly, mentally unbalanced (i.e., paranoid schizophrenics), people who have ties to drug/criminal organizations (i.e., the female HSI special agent in Arizona who, along with her sister, was arrested for facilitating illegal drug distribution), drug dealers, illegal drug users, people with bad credit, etc. ICE has the lowest employment standards in law enforcement.

Is it any real surprise then that someone involved in alien smuggling is working for ICE?

King David on September 16, 2012 at 1:57 pm

@ Mo’Fo’ Jones

When I was in I was always out of the office…working customs cases as well as INS stuff. FBI, ATF, DEA, and other agencies called us to assist in their investigations because you ass clowns didn’t have the expertise to do them and you were always too busy being arrogant pukes to do any semblance of work except puffing your skinny chest out.

BTW, I retired long ago…smart enough to get out of it after you douchebags took over and screwed it all up. Oh yeah…still talk to old comrades from other fed/local agencies; word is they can’t get you legends in your own mind off your butts to get out of the office and work/assist in anything. Why don’t you use some of that 13 pay you’re scamming and take some English classes?

IceNoMore on September 17, 2012 at 12:09 pm

@MF Jones
“In this case even the “investigative” assistant wasn’t afraid of operating right under the noses of all of those tough investigator immigratiuon Clowns, the ones that know everything there is to know about the bs immigration work and walk around t he office wearing their tough guns and badges. What a joke. Now you see why this is a great example of why no criminal has to worry about HSI.”

The inconvenient truth here is that the employee in question is a local legacy USCSer in an office with lots of known issues. Maybe, if you knew anything about conducting actual investigations, you would find out some facts before you go spouting off like a fool. How ’bout a 40 oz. can of crap to help wash down that humble pie?

Deferred Distraction on September 17, 2012 at 1:10 pm

DD, Clown, You don’t have to re-post what’s already been written. And, Clown, you are another prime example of a Clown that lacks any critical thinking skills, let alone common sense, I stated “investigative assistant as in “derogatory”. And, Clown, you call that an investigation?

I’ll pass on that can, share that six pack with your buds at work around the computer while you’re reading DS posts.

BTW writing this on LEAP time.

MF Jones on September 17, 2012 at 9:29 pm

MF,

Seems to me that most readers of this site care about immigration, as does most of the populace, and of course Debbie. Most discerning people understand that immigration crime has been the linchpin of terrorists’ efforts to enter or stay in this country. From fraud, to smuggling, to documents, terrorists have exploited our weaknesses. But to you, and your like, it isn’t important.

It doesn’t matter that Congress designated funding for this kind of work, because after all – MF Jones and his pals don’t like it. If they want to do drug cases, or child porn, or counterfeit soft goods, well that’s what they want to do. I mean, after all, the job exists to satisfy them, not serve a national need…….What’s that you say, the job exists to serve a purpose, and not their own ego? Well, someone ought to tell ole MF’er.

There are at least 3-4 people that post on here that were INS before they went to Customs pre-merger. None of them agree with your negative assessment of the skill and quality of INS agents, and they had been in BOTH agencies. I wish MF was just a lone voice, but there are many within ICE that share his disdain for investigations of immigration crime. Many of those are in senior leadership positions, and have done all they can to steer HSI away from doing immigration work.

Our movement away from this work will make the country less safe. But at least MF and his ilk will be happy. The sad thing is, that if MF is as good as he seems to claim on here: gift to all agents, a mind to admire, the baddest man in the field, he could have done some great investigations of alien smuggling, benefit fraud, or human trafficking. Of course such cases are so easy, he would not have needed to use investigative techniques, people would simply confess at the sight of him.

You know, I have never been one to say love it or leave it. I mean, everyone should be able to have opinions about where the work should be concentrated. But really, anytime you want to leave MF, be my guest. No agency needs types like you around who believe they are bigger and better than the job, bigger and better than their colleagues, and who believe the job exists for themselves. I heard the FBI and DEA are hiring, why don’t head over there so you can get the respect and love you crave? Let us know how far that selfish, whiny, little, petty, and childish outlook of yours gets you.

Please on September 18, 2012 at 12:25 am

Huh!? What the MF are you talking about? Have you not been reading this blog for the last 9-10 years. You’ll notice extremely little of positive note has been about ins.
Let me jog your feeble memory even more; during the late 1990’s the ins was set for Congressionally mandated reform, i.e., they were going to disband the ins and move it, transfer entities amongst other agencies because of many of the reasons in existence now at ICE/HSI, incompetence, bureaucratic bungling, and ineffectiveness.

And, BTW, most of the negative information about ins agent incompetence and lack of work ethic, comes from, yes, legacy ins agents, and this is from a major SAC office (200-300 agents), case after case, examples of former clerks rising to G/S agent status without any experience in anything having to do with criminal investigations, no cases, no grand juries, no informants, no AUSAs, no nothing. Plenty of nepotism, girlfriends, sisters of girlfriends, got those coveted “you are now a sepecial agent” letters from the DD, who also pandered to the illegal alien community with the tacit approval of ins HQ, and politicians. That DD even had a weekly television show where he gave information on how to apply for benefits (all in Spanish). That DD he was a darling, during the last “amnesty” (were you around?) many veteran ins agents were pulled in and mandated to perform adjudications, that’s approving greencards for those that don’t know (definitely not criminal investigator/agent work), when the agents found fraudulent documents in support of the amnesty they denied the applications, but good old DD (District Director) over-ruled them and granted amnesties. That was a major problem that ins had: The same boss was in charge of benefits and “investigations”; hence the status quo of corruption. This scenario was duplicated throughout ins offices.

To make matters worse, Customs now had to deal with this excess baggage of under-qualified, inexperienced ins agents. Fast forward to today and you have what you got at ICE/HSI, and it ain’t pretty.

I challenge you, Please, to come up with one major legacy ins criminal investigative case that has been successfully prosecuted by any AUSA, that was major in scope, and that required the use of complex investigative techniques, think of the level of a major mob family, major money laudering, major anything having to do with “immigration” laws, and I don’t mean major chicken bones processing plant roundups, those were settled with fines issued, and most case agents were legacy Customs anyway.

U.S. v. Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, et al
U.S. v. Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI)

also known as “operation C-Chase” in Customs.

These are only two examples of the many major criminal investigations that Customs completed just prior to the merger.

Unfortunately those types of major cases are not being done now.

Show me otherwise about and ins and I will be the first to admit that I was wrong.

MF Jones on September 19, 2012 at 11:01 am

And, hey, let’s not forget Operation Casablanca, the U.S. Customs investigation that implicated the president of Mexico as being involved in large scale money laundering.

To put a point of this, INS, for its entire existence, never even had a Title III-based investigation.

The problems with ICE does not necessarily lie in its past, or in its creation, but that the powers that be have modeled ICE on INS and put legacy Customs managers in charge, as well as maintaining legacy INS hiring standards (as opposed to legacy Customs standards which set the bar much higher).

King David on September 19, 2012 at 12:31 pm

If you’re looking for a warm and fuzzy feeling over the great job that ICE/HSI is doing, then you all need to read the ice.gov website, there you may read all the propaganda about the Mortons, Barrs and Napolitanos and their great leadership in running the agency from the comfort and safety of DC. They also claim to “care” about immigration.

BTW, we’re still waiting for those major ins cases you claim.
I also have more ins stories if you’d prefer that type of reading.

And, it’s really not “prejudice” at work here, it’s more disdain and lack of respect (look that up), that, respect, is something that needs to be earned, and not through fear and intimidation.

MF Jones on September 24, 2012 at 10:45 am

MF –

I suppose you were the case agent on the BCCI case, huh? Please, you’ve been a spectator and poser in all likelihood.

Unlike you however, I do not knock what was done in the past by the legacy agents. I’ve never disputed that USCS did great work or that there still isn’t great work being done and that needs to be done relative to traditional Customs-based law enforcement. My problem with guys like you is your denigrating of the immigration mission and the agents that did it and still do it. It is all about you and what you LIKE to do, as opposed to what NEEDS to be done.

You want more headlines or a more secure country? You want to rest on the laurels of 20-year old cases or go after the most pressing current threats? Guess what, pal? Our country, its very fabric, nature, and well-being is threatened by people exploiting the immigration system, through fraud, smuggling,trafficking, and related crime. You can undersell it all you want, call it bullshit work, but it is going to be the threat from immigration crime that affects us most in the future. Much more so than loads of dope transported in to feed an insatiable demand for drugs. Far more so than counterfeit products, undeclared currency, or undervalued imports/exports. The fact is that there is a need to work all of the above, but we have shifted too much away from immigration crime to narcotics, and not because it is a greater national security threat, but because that is what guys like you know (i.e., 22 of 26 SACs), love, and WANT to do. And guys like you have to be happy, right?

You won’t get any argument from me here on the state of affairs of INS in the 90’s, and the sway of District Directors with no law enforcement experience on investigations. All the more reason why those that did work complex investigations don’t deserve your, or anyone else’s, disdain. Try navigating a bureaucratic nightmare, dealing with clueless senior management, and simultaneously managing a case. I can tell you, it wasn’t easy, but it got done. Regardless of the environment, then or now, immigration crime enforcement is incredibly important to our national security, and sadly mopes like you that don’t get that are as much a threat to our security as the bad guys.

No, Title III investigations within legacy INS were no where near as frequent as in Customs, DEA or FBI, but they were done. The nature of the criminal organizations involved in immigration crime is not on the scale of La Cosa Nostra, Mexican DTOs or Colombian Cartels. That said, the scale of criminal ACTIVITY is just as pervasive. AS for large-scale cases, New York had several in the 1990’s and early 2000’s, particularly related to UCA’s posing as corrupt officials and selling documents to drug trafficking organizations. INS agents led on those task force cases which also included FBI, DEA and yes, Customs agents alongside them. If you want an example of a large-scale criminal organization being taken down by INS, the Sister Ping smuggling case out of New York, and the related Porges Law Firm case were good examples. LA, Houston, and Miami over the years have had huge anti-smuggling cases as well, involving undercover work, international coordination, and multi-jurisdiction operations. Places like Dallas and Chicago had giant fraud cases. You are either trying to incite people here by claiming that INS agents never did significant investigations or you are just an idiot. Or both.

BTW, my casework pre-merger was not as significant as those cases I alluded to above. Yet, still, in my SAC at least there were very few legacy USCS guys who had done anything of the scale that even I had done. I now know some former USCS guys who have done some of the biggest cases ever (you probably know them too), but don’t act like that was the norm. USCS did plenty of low impact airport and border cases that went nowhere, and was peopled with its share of slugs as well. But my point has never been who had the better agents, I think USCS had the better personnel. My point is that those who dismiss immigration enforcement as unimportant ultimately put us at risk. That they do so because they want to pursue the work they consider to be “fun”, “cool”, or “rewarding” makes me sick. The people pay their taxes so that we can keep them safe, not so that MF Jones and pals can play wannabe DEA with 70% of ICE resources.

Nine years after the merger, and you are a sad case. Open disdain for your peers is the result of your ill-informed perspective rather than legitimate facts. There is no hope for you, but maybe for those who read this site. MF yourself, and if there is karma in this world, may your last years with this agency be spent in an alien smuggling unit. IF, and I mean IF, you could ever make a case, come back on here and tell us how easy it was, will ya?

Please on September 26, 2012 at 1:55 am

Ah, the “famous” Sista Ping case, I Googled it too and found that she was arrested in 1989 by ins for alien smuggling, fined 50k and sentenced to 4 months, and the Porges Law Firm case, tell me what happened to the 7,000+ illegal Chinese that fraudulently got asylums through them. BTW Sista Ping was “really’ arrested in 2003, but this time the FBI was onboard, and in 2005 she was sentenced to 35 years.

20 year old cases, yes, but they were done during someone’s career, were you on those cases?

I can also make the claim, and generalize as you have, that Customs SAC offices throughout the U.S. made numerous cases, so what? The fact that you can’t come up with any major criminal investigations of significance that where ins was the lead agency is pathetic, and just proves that ins was a minor league agency, so just accept it, there’s nothing wrong with that, ins served a function and purpose, just at a lower level, lots of bagging and tagging the “wets”.

Now that Customs has adopted the ins, and the incompetent ins Clowns have risen and been promoted, I would say that the major concern would be the danger in having incompetent, inexperienced Clowns, making the job difficult and dangerous for agents, don’t you think? Not the fact that many that post here lack respect for ins?

You reading assignment this week is the following:

http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780425247624,00.html
Kirkpatrick, Terry “60 miles of border: An American lawman battles drugs on the Mexican border.”

http://www.the-infiltrator.com/
Robert Mazur, U.s. Customs

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/950619/archive_010388.htm
Edward Kacerosky, U.S. Customs

I know you’ll insist on having the last word, so I’ll leave you with the above reading assignment, I have made my point.

MF Jones on September 28, 2012 at 10:46 am

INS/ICE was the lead in both Porges and Ping investigations, not FBI, so much for your investigative skills. In fact, it was INS that pushed Asian human smuggling as organized crime in the 80’s, and the FBI started to come on board afterwards in the late 90’s.

My point – immigration crime is a serious threat to security, dismissing it puts us in peril.

Your point – ehhh, not so sure. I guess that USCS agents were really cool, did cool stuff, and need to keep doing the same…or they cry…a lot…..and blame clowns….sad ones…..such as INS for management issues when 90% of SACs and top HQ management are former Customs.

Keep your junior DEA badge nice and shiny though, one day maybe they will let you into the club. Until then I expect to read you crying and whining on here about how INS ruined it for you poor old narcotics agents.

Please on September 28, 2012 at 4:04 pm

MF,

Keep reading FBI press releases. My knowledge does not come from Google.

You are right though, I was far away and did not work those cases, but the work on those cases was complex and long term, something you absurdly claim was not done by INS and presumably is not needed now. That and the fact that both cases were actively being investigated pre-merger made them good examples. As to the 7,000, I’ve no idea, but I am sure that there is little effort authorized by management to find their location, but that’s on ERO once USCIS cancels their status.

NYC, LA, Houston and Miami always had the biggest cases, that’s why I reference them. See, this is where the groups that organize the fraud and smuggling most often are located, driving the biggest cases. The SW is a gateway, not the destination.

If you think enforcing immigration law isn’t one of the linchpins of preserving national security, then your comprehension of current threats is sorely lacking. If you seriously think that INS never did long term, complex, far ranging investigations then you either work in some office that was worthless or you have had your head buried up your arse for 9 years. But seeing as how you are so in love with yourself and your previous “accomplished” career, I am betting in the latter.

Please on October 1, 2012 at 12:31 am

Blissful ignorance, unabashedly defending ins despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. What are you, blind? Do you have any reasonable level of reading comprehension? Estimated levels of illegal immigration in the 1980’s (prior to the last amnesty), in the U.S., was 4-5 million; today the number, by any measure, is estimated to be 15-20 million, I would say there is a serious flaw in the enforcement of immigration laws, no one of any import seems to care, but go ahead and blame it on ERO/USCIS, blame it on “Customs management” if you want, you seem to prefer that.

As for terrorism, I think the FBI is actually successfully investigating it; HSI/ICE (sounds tough, doesn’t it?) really doesn’t have anything to do with “terrorism” other than the JTTF. This blog has consistently pointed out that the F-1 student visa, the Iraq/Iran/Pakistan asylum/refugees, and the multitude of visa abusers are the real source for that “terrorism” you are so concerned about. Tell me, how many “terrorists” have you caught? Is Chipotle Juan a “terrorist”?

Vato, no one gives a shit about ins or immigration. Do you see the upside down special agent badge and the “U.S. Department of Jihadist Security” on this blog?

If you want to feel like a big bad federal agent by terrorizing Chipotle Juan or McDonald’s Maria, go ahead, but don’t you think there are numerous criminals out there that pose a grave risk to safety and to citizens, and are conspiring to commit, and have committed felonies? What’s the matter, are you afraid or just conditioned to picking on the one’s that are meek and just come here for jobs? (by the way I don’t agree with illegal immigration, just stating facts, so don’t even go there).

Unlike you, I don’t claim to be the spokesperson for legacy Customs agents, I speak only for myself, and I don’t police this blog either. But I do respond to ignorant statements.

As I said, if you want the warm and fuzzy feeling, go read ice.gov. CLOWN.

MF Jones on October 1, 2012 at 10:47 am

So how successful was USCS in stopping dope loads, IPR fraud and money laundering? Has it been curbed, reduced? Or did drugs just re-route from the Caribbean through Mexico, IPR fraud explode, and money find new pathways? So no, but if the work hadn’t been done the situation would be far worse. This is also true with immigration crime, except INS and later ICE have been forced to move away from enforcement that might affect those levels.

I’m glad to finally see you agree with me here on the threat to NS posed by immigration crime with your F-1/Paki asylum rant, and in the next sentence you state that no one gives a shit about immigration. Again, I agree, and that’s why we are where we are as a country, because people like you recognize it’s a problem but don’t really care enough to do something about it. But keep chasing those controlled deliveries, because that is doing wonders for preserving NS.

“…other than the JTTF”. If you have ever been on one you’d know how much of the prosecutions end up being involved with fraud. Talk about ignorant statements.

As to your offensive stereotyping “chipotle Juan”, when and where did I talk about worksite? However, the same lax approach to immigration enforcement that allows employers of illegals to prosper is the same approach that allows fraud and smuggling organization to bring in and keep people in the U.S., including criminals and terrorists. I think DS has made that point many times on her blog, and I am one of a number of posters that agree.

The immigration enforcement mission was and is important. The people that did it, and still do it, were and are dedicated and qualified. Smuggling, fraud, and (occasionally) worksite cases were and are layered, complex and difficult to investigate. You don’t agree with any of the above, fine. You think it is an ignorant statement, well, everyone is entitled to an opinion. But whatever you may think, it is a part of our agency’s mission, and those trying to bury it or make it less relevant aren’t doing our country any favors. That is my opinion.

One other opinion – while I sometimes find your sarcasm entertaining and witty – you’re a dick.

Please on October 1, 2012 at 6:22 pm

Apology, didn’t mean to make you cry.

Actually the various Customs undercover investigations have been highly successful throughout the years, in terms of seizing the commodities that were negotiated during the investigation, i.e., kilograms of drugs, millions of dollars, cartel members arrests, asset seizures, t-shirts, and also convictions. The contraband that’s seized at the border by the inspectors, a lot of those “controlled deliveries” have been successful as well.

There’s a lot of info out there that you can read about, if you are really interested in facts, I’m not going to post them here, you’re an “investigator” (I think, not really sure, but leaning towards “no”.)

And, I’ve worked both sides, I’ve had my ass on the front lines, so I can make those comparisons, observations, and evaluations. Bottom line: I’d rather work Customs cases, even t-shirts, at least it’s real. I didn’t just read about it.

So, you can stop trying to dissect my posts in such an amateurish manner; nothing you say can change my opinion.

MF Jones on October 3, 2012 at 10:26 am