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Pastimes : DC Sniper - Theories? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mr. Forthright who wrote (2364)	10/25/2002 11:55:04 PM
From: KLP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2746

INS and Malvo...Looks like ALL of us should know more about the INS and policies here....Our borders are big and maybe more porous than we thought... INS bleeding personnel since 9/11 Despite call to beef up border security, local office has shrunk Friday, August 23, 2002 By CHRIS McGANN SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER Ron Hays today leaves his 14-year career with the Immigration and Naturalization Service for a job as the Tri-Cities Airport's federal security director -- a position created by the newly formed Transportation Security Administration. His boss says Hays takes with him a wealth of experience and will be almost impossible to replace in an agency that is losing staff at an alarming rate. In Seattle, the agency has been authorized to add 126 inspectors as part of the push to secure the borders in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. Ron Hays, the Immigration and Naturalization Service's top-ranked inspector in the region, opens a going-away gag gift from Remy Valenzuela yesterday. Renee C. Byer / Seattle Post-Intelligencer Click for larger photo But instead of growing, the regional INS has shrunk. Unable to hire as fast as it is bleeding, the office now has two fewer inspectors than it did on Sept. 10, 2001. INS attrition has accelerated since Sept. 11 because federal law enforcement has become something of a growth industry, and other new and existing agencies pay better. The rate at which INS inspectors are leaving their posts for other jobs spiked from the 8 percent rate common for years, to nearly 20 percent in the past 11 months. "I lost six officers to the (TSA) Air Marshals," said Hays, who was the agency's top-ranked inspector in the region. "And I will point out to you that their journeyman level is GS-13 (with annual salary of $66,401) with a law enforcement retirement." Annual salaries of journeyman INS inspectors with the same experience was only this month upgraded from $39,789 (GS-9) to $46,590 (GS-11), and they don't receive the coveted retirement benefits accorded law enforcement officials. Officials say it's clear that the much-maligned immigration service simply cannot provide comparable incentives to keep qualified people. The inspectors are charged with intercepting terrorists, alien and narcotic smugglers, impostors, false claims to U.S. citizenship, criminals and undocumented aliens seeking admission. Hays, 56, said he's leaving primarily because he savors new challenges presented by the "brand-new organization with an extremely important mandate." But the sweet law enforcement retirement plan won't hurt, either. The agency has never been able to compete with benefits offered for similarly trained employees of other agencies and different job classifications, Hays said. After three years of training, INS inspectors are qualified to carry a gun and make arrests much the same as other law enforcement officials. But as journeymen inspectors, they are not classified as such. "That just sticks in the craw of every inspector," Hays said. "Arguably, we take into custody more people than any other organization, yet cooks at the prisons and park ran- gers have law enforcement retirement." Bob Okin, the Seattle INS deputy district director said that since Sept. 11, there is a lot of competition for federal jobs, particularly in law enforcement. "We're finding people are drifting to newly created TSA agency positions such sky marshals, security screeners, airport security," Okin said. "It's basically a pay issue." In addition, Okin said, inspectors "have been working a lot of long hours and days without breaks -- that may contribute to their decision to go elsewhere." But he said the incongruent job classifications will likely be remedied when the INS becomes part of the Homeland Security Department, which also will take in Customs, the Coast Guard and the new Transportation Security Administration. "My sense is the equity issue will disappear," Okin said. "The pay structure will have to be the same with all the agencies under Homeland Security." Hays said INS has since March conducted more than 300 local interviews and has held job fairs in Seattle, but that few new applicants have been hired. Though the agency needs to hire 128 people to come up to its authorized strength of about 300, it's not willing to lower its standards to fill the ranks, Hays said. About 90 percent of applicants pass the screening by the board but often can't pass the medical or background checks -- "they have what we call 'hiring issues,'" he said. And working with immigrants isn't for everyone, Hays said. The test includes "a scenario" to help screeners "gauge the clarity of the thought process and their compassion for other people," he said. "We don't want to have jack-booted border thugs working for us." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- P-I reporter Chris McGann can be reached at 206-448-8169 or chrismcgann@seattlepi.com