September 13, 2006, - 11:30 am

DHS Inspector General: Immigration Agency Protects Cronies, Fails to Stop Corrupt Agents

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On this site, we’ve questioned why corrupt Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents continue in their careers unscathed, why others get sweeheart deals to get out and keep their pensions. We’ve noted that those agents cast a pall on the mostly hard-working, patriotic, loyal ICE agents who try to keep us safe, despite incompetent and lazy management at the highest levels of their agency.
This should be important to all freedom-loving Americans because corrupt ICE agents means lax enforcement of immigration and customs laws. We’ve seen this in Dearborn, Michigan and beyond–the heart of Islamic America, where Michigan/Ohio Special Agent in Charge a/k/a “Abu Moskowitz” refuses to investigate alien smuggling operations and money laundering by Muslims. Agents say they’ve been turned down when requesting to investigate legitimate, substantial tips and leads in the area. Yet, he invited an (who was in a sham marriage to get a green card) to his home and to .


Charlie’s Non-Angels: Marcy Forman-Friedman, Julie Myers, Traci Lembke Let ICE Officials Get Away With Corruption

Now, we know why agents like Moskowitz and others get away with it. Richard Skinner, the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General, issued a scathing report–ironically on 9/11–of ICE’s internal affairs department, the Office of Professional Responsibility–currently headed by Moskowitz crony a/k/a “The Cheater Chick.”
We recommend reading the entire report, especially ICE chieftess a/k/a “The ICE Princess'” memo in response (beginning on page 31)–which is full of falsehoods and was probably written by Lembke and that expensive new lawyer on whom Myers wasted our tax dollars. We also note that on page 17 of the report (page 21 of the PDF), the Inspector General chastises top ICE management, reportedly Moskowitz’s boss a/k/a “Peppermint Patty,” ICE’s Director of Investigations, for overriding OPR’s prescribed punishment for top ICE officials–cronyism over justice:

OPR officials noted a recent case that it investigated involving a Senior Executive Service [DS: SES status means mucho pay, over $140,000 per year and usually in the $200-$250K neighborhood] employee. The employee had several serious charges of substantiated misconduct that were referred to the appropriate component director for discipline. The initial decision to impose a three-day suspension was rescinded, and a letter of reprimand was imposed, which is under appeal. OPR officials we interviewed expressed surprise at the lenient penalty, considering the serious nature of the misconduct and the employee’s seniority and position, and thought the misconduct warranted a stronger penalty than was imposed. Another official familiar with the case stated that the component responsible for disciplining the employee is widely known for being too lenient.

Sources within ICE say that “lenient component”–who cancelled proper punishment for misconduct of top ICE officials–is Marcy Forman-Friedman. That explains the lack of discipline against Abu Moskowitz, and why complaints against him have bounced all around the agency, at the direction of his friend, Acting OPR Director Lembke.
We think The Washington Post has a pretty good summary of the OIG Report:

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has failed to root out internal corruption because it does not reliably track cases, decide them quickly or set uniform punishments, according to a inspector general’s report made public yesterday.
ICE has no coherent system to promptly and fairly oversee allegations of bribery, smuggling, falsification, sexual harassment or mismanagement against agents, the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general reported.
From January 2003 to August 2005, agency supervisors failed to take disciplinary action in 147 of 246 cases when allegations were substantiated by investigators, the report said. More than 60 cases lingered for a year or more, some for as long as four years, it added.
ICE relies on five different sets of penalties for workers, the report said, “resulting in the perception that a ‘good old boys’ network still existed where certain infractions were simply made to go away.”

We’d say that, in several cases, the perception of the “good old boys” network is not just a perception. It’s reality. As we noted, ICE’s 2nd in command, John Clark, for convicted sex offender a/k/a Frankie the Fig to retire and keep his $100,000-plus annual pension.
We’ve also noted the . Nothing has happened to him, even though he blatantly violated government rules when he got his extra-marital girlfriend a plum job for which she was not qualified and formed a supersecret hiring board to avoid mandated government hiring procedures. Myers needs to sign off on all ICE discipline, but she refuses to sign off any anything to hurt her precious Costanza-like friend, Torres.
And there’s a “Good Old Gal” Network, too. Lembke, a woman, has been known to use her position atop OPR to protect her friends (like Moskowitz) and hurt her enemies within the agency.
And then there’s that other gal we wrote about, , an ICE agent who–with her cop boyfriend–handcuffed a woman to a hot tub and tried to force her to perform sex acts on them. She is still working for ICE and being paid, over a year after this crime and has yet to be indicted.
With such a lack of internal enforcement and rooting out of corruption, how can we expect ICE to do a good job of rooting out illegal aliens in our midst? They can’t even investigate themselves properly. How the heck can they investigate alien and weapons smugglers and money launderers?




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6 Responses

“Yet, he invited an Islamic terrorist (who was in a sham marriage to get a green card) to his home and to help recruit Arabic speaking ICE agents.”
Inviting this guy to his home sounds really weird. Is this “Abu” Moskowitz married? Is it possible that he thinks he’s Lawrence of Arabia?

Sue Bob on September 13, 2006 at 1:52 pm

I wanted to point out a couple of inaccuracies in this piece. I’m not here to support or denigrate anyone in particular, but I think the public has a right to ACCURATELY know the facts and circumstances of this matter so they can come to an informed and rational decision regarding it.
First: If I remember my Title 5 correctly, by Federal law, there is no SES that can actually take home $ 250,000 per year – they are restricted to incomes not to exceed that of a Member of Congress (about $ 166,000 per year, except that excess salary may count for purposes of calculating retirement benefits).
Second, if there is a criminal investigation to be pursued against an ICE employee (which includes smuggling, bribery and falsification), by policy, DHS-OIG has the first crack at investigating the alleged offense and presenting it to the U.S. Attorneys for prosecution; ICE OPR gets the “scraps” that DHS-OIG doesn’t want, as well as the administrative law issues (e.g. improper use of a vehicle, improper use of leave, etc.). So, for DHS-OIG to claim that ICE OPR (which is a fairly depleted entity since the creation of DHS in 2003) is not doing its job, I would argue to the contrary that DHS-OIG is not doing THEIR job, and is thus disingenuous in its findings.
Again, is it any wonder that legacy Customs agents want no part of this pathetic abortion of an agency? I dare say not.

4EVERCUSTOMS on September 13, 2006 at 8:33 pm

Too bad the Congress is OK with this. Since it doesn’t fit the Lefty agenda to stop Illegal Infiltration, the Dems sit quiet, as we go to hell in a handbasket.

Craig C on September 15, 2006 at 7:53 am

I am a retired ICE special agent and was employed by Legacy US Customs from 1988 until the creation of ICE on March 1, 2003. I was a Resident Agent in Charge for Customs’ internal affairs in the 1990s. Customs IA operated under the Treasury’s OIG and now ICE OPR operates under the DHS-OIG. All allegations against a GS-15 and above are/were automatically referred to the OIGs. For the most part, if Customs IA or ICE OPR has a “special interest” they would call the OIG and ask that a case be referred back to the Customs/ICE internal affairs so the “goons” agents can do the “dirty work.”
If the Treasury OIG and now the DHS-OIG conducts an investigation and writes a nice Report of Investigations proving the allegations, still is up to ICE to impose discipline. For more on this, please refer to DHS-OIG Report No. OIG-06-57 released on 9/26/06 and titled: “A Review of Immigration and Customs Discipline Procedures”
I am glad I was able to “honorably” retire from ICE after a number of “bogus” negligent Customs IA and Treasury OIG investigations.
Keep up the good work Debbie – ICE and its “leadership” is on its way to the dumps – Hope the great hard working ICE agents find a better agency to work for before this happens.

mac11 on October 20, 2006 at 6:00 pm

I assume the DHS has a reliable background screening process in place for potential employees, but answer me this one: Once hired, are routine supplemental background checks run, and how often? I remember watching a sting operation on TV envolving the capture of sex offenders where an employee of the DHS was named and arrested as one of the offenders. One would think that such an esteemed organization, as the Department of Homeland Security, would be concerned about such negative attention. One would think that the DHS would not tolerate criminal activity of any sort by it’s employees. Would it also be reason for concern if an employee of the DHS has a restraining order brought against him for threats and vandalism of company property? Also, would it be reason for concern if an employee of the DHS and his wife had a side venture where he and his wife (she is mentally ill and has a history of such crimes and a felony record, and it is believed her husband is now using her as a pawn to line his own pockets) are the prime suspects of the theft/embezzlement/misappropriation of company funds? Would it raise red flags about the integrity of the HLS employee and the organization itself? I mean here is a guy that would routinely bring his gun on-property of his other place of business, to show off and brag wagging it around to impress people, sheesh! The restraining order and “Proof of Firearms Turned In or Sold” docs of said employee have been filed with the court, and the information for the theft case is soon to be presented to the District Attorney’s office, but it’s not known yet if it will be accepted due to some complexities in the case. It really bothers me to think that people like this are “Protecting” our country. If they can’t even uphold truth and honor within themselves, what makes us think they are capable of upholding the truth, honor and safety of this country? So, once again, does the DHS routinely run supplemental background checks of it’s employees, and how often? Hmmm, wonder if they will do anything even if/when they find out what this guy is all about.

Concerned on November 15, 2009 at 12:52 pm

I lost my house, possessions, Money, my business, to a family of scammers from Philippines, all because DHS did not perform an accurate background check or maybe no background check at all. By not checking DHS allowed me to marry someone that was already married to someone else. I new was being Scammed but had no proof. i started my own investigating and through the same agency the U.S consulate and others use NSO. I found the records of current marriage to another. her and her family working together were able steal my life, and the background check cost me $25.

5 years of misery and poverty caused by neglect of DHS.
all the agency’s i have contacted do nothing.

David C. Will on February 21, 2010 at 12:17 pm

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