SOME IMMIGRATION DUTIES MAY BE PRIVATIZED

The Miami Herald - Friday, August 15, 2003
Author: ALFONSO CHARDY, achardy@herald.com

Private contract employees may replace more than 1,100 federal immigration officers who currently deal with foreign nationals seeking documents or information at immigration offices nationwide, Bush administration officials said Thursday.

Privatizing the immigration information officer workforce would improve service and save money, officials said. About two dozen officers work in South Florida.

Leaders of the union that represents immigration workers said national security would be undermined, because private contractors are unfamiliar with immigration laws and sensitive criminal and terror watch-list databases.

``You should not commercialize the security of our nation,'' said Bridgette Rodriguez, president of Local 1458 of the American Federation of Government Employees in Miami.

The possible privatization, which would not occur until sometime next year at the earliest, is one of the most significant immigration policy shifts since the Immigration and Naturalization Service was absorbed by the Department of Homeland Security on March 1. Three bureaus replaced the INS, including the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, which handles public inquiries and processing of green cards and citizenship applications.

SAME TRAINING

Federal officials said private employees would receive the same kind of training and supervision that government workers get.

``There is nothing magic to being a government employee, no innate ability,'' said a senior immigration official familiar with the issue who asked not to be identified.

Private contractors, the official noted, already handle a variety of immigration services, including a customer service line (800-375-5283).

Immigration attorneys and advocates had a mixed reaction to the privatization proposal.

``It's worth a try,'' Miami attorney Michael Bander said. ``Could be a big improvement.''

But Tammy Fox-Isicoff, another Miami lawyer, disagreed. ``Already, current information officers provide incorrect information,'' she said. ``I can't even imagine what it would be like if they brought in private contract employees.''

José Lagos, president of Honduran Unity, a South Florida group, called the plan a ``visual cosmetic fix'' that might improve the agency's image - not service.

The head of a Washington, D.C., think tank that advocates tighter immigration policies also criticized the plan.

``I'm uncomfortable with the role of a private contractor providing government services,'' said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies. ``I think the information officer position is too important to be farmed out.''

In the Miami office of the federal immigration agency, 23 officers receive 900 to 1,000 people a day. Statewide, there are 36 immigration officers, said Ana Santiago, a bureau spokeswoman.

The privatization plan was announced Aug. 1 by Eduardo Aguirre, director of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, in an e-mail to employees.

The e-mail was obtained by The Herald, and bureau spokesmen confirmed the authenticity of the message.

DISTANT DECISION

Aguirre said the target date to award the bid is June 30. A senior bureau official in Washington, however, said that does not mean the winner will immediately take over.

Ultimately, the bureau might decide that it is best not to contract out the information officers' work.

Union officials have enlisted the support of Democratic Sens. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who have drafted a joint letter to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge urging him to reconsider the plan.

``The decision to subject these jobs to possible privatization would have been objectionable enough before 9/11,'' Leahy said in a statement released by his office Thursday. ``It is all the more unwise now.''