DHS and Upcoming Election

[charlydevo]

Wouldn't it be nice if some of the 1811's who work human smuggling/trafficking were actually working FOR the Border Patrol and were assigned to Border Patrol stations? Just maybe it would be beneficial if they could use the intel gathered from BP Agents to target those stash houses that all the PA's know are running hundreds of wets per week. What if you had 1811's to set up surveillance on the houses, follow a few load vehicles, arrest a few of the wets up the road, make a few informants, swear out some warrants, and take the doors off those houses? I think that would be great. I know from when I was a PA that there were plenty of those houses and everybody knew about them. All that we could do about it was to send intel to the investigators at some other office working for some other agency and hope that they could get around to it some day.

[explcdt8]

Say this plan does go through, and immigration/border is put back under one agency, at least for enforcement purposes. What would happen to the civilians at Citizenship and Immigration Services, should they go with the sworn personnel, or remain as a separate agency. Again, I think it would make sense to put them together since they have such a related mission.
On a related note, are there any law enforcement at CIS, other than OIG?

And totally off-topic, how come most people equate Homeland Security with fighting terrorism, even though the FBI and not DHS, is the lead agency on these kinds of cases? Yes, I am aware of the policy-making and planning roles of DHS, but I am referring to actual LE function

[Creeker]

...And totally off-topic, how come most people equate Homeland Security with fighting terrorism, even though the FBI and not DHS, is the lead agency on these kinds of cases? Yes, I am aware of the policy-making and planning roles of DHS, but I am referring to actual LE function

Haven't you heard? You can't "Professionalise" unless you "Federalise" .... :rolleyes:

[explcdt8]

So, does the bad attitude, horrible uniform standards, LEO Impersonation, and unauthorized searches of children* come under the "federalize" or the "professionalize" part?;)

*To any lurking TSA screener, these actually happen. For example, if you are frisking a five-year old because he is on the no-fly list (in itself a violation of policy since no child under 12 can be on the no fly list), the parent must be offered a chance to stay with the child and undergo the same level of screening. Telling the parent "No, you can't see your kid, he is a risk to national security, is wholly unprofessional, and border-line illegal. Search this board for at least one other example of your agency's poor treatment of a board member's child.

[Creeker]

So, does the bad attitude, horrible uniform standards, LEO Impersonation, and unauthorized searches of children* come under the "federalize" or the "professionalize" part?;)

*To any lurking TSA screener, these actually happen. For example, if you are frisking a five-year old because he is on the no-fly list (in itself a violation of policy since no child under 12 can be on the no fly list), the parent must be offered a chance to stay with the child and undergo the same level of screening. Telling the parent "No, you can't see your kid, he is a risk to national security, is wholly unprofessional, and border-line illegal. Search this board for at least one other example of your agency's poor treatment of a board member's child.

You will need to ask Tommy Daschle which part that falls under... :cool:

[charlydevo]

Say this plan does go through, and immigration/border is put back under one agency, at least for enforcement purposes. What would happen to the civilians at Citizenship and Immigration Services, should they go with the sworn personnel, or remain as a separate agency. Again, I think it would make sense to put them together since they have such a related mission.
On a related note, are there any law enforcement at CIS, other than OIG?

And totally off-topic, how come most people equate Homeland Security with fighting terrorism, even though the FBI and not DHS, is the lead agency on these kinds of cases? Yes, I am aware of the policy-making and planning roles of DHS, but I am referring to actual LE function

No, absolutely not. You have to understand why the INS was a failure to understand this answer. The INS failed because it was an agency that was mostly service-oriented, with two enforcement components (Investigations, Border Patrol) and a regulatory/inspection component (Immigration Inspectors). All of the bosses ultimately answered to District Directors, who were from the service-oriented side (adjudications). The agency was mostly about giving out immigration benefits.

When the bosses of the enforcement components answer to bosses whose mission is service-oriented, the situation will lead to failure. CIS is now the agency that does what the service-oriented side of the INS used to do. They are, and need to be, a stand alone agency. I think that they should have some criminal investigators assigned to them to work on the massive amounts of fraud cases that they get. In the current system, their fraud cases are referred to ICE. ICE has many missions, and can't always get to these fraud cases. Plus, it is very difficult for an outside agency to run these investigations when all of the necessary files and applications are the property of CIS.

[Group9]

You have to admit, no matter how much the former Customs guys hated being given immigration investigation duties, they certainly seem to be doing a better job at it now, than was done before.

[sparty]

CIS is now the agency that does what the service-oriented side of the INS used to do. They are, and need to be, a stand alone agency. I think that they should have some criminal investigators assigned to them to work on the massive amounts of fraud cases that they get. In the current system, their fraud cases are referred to ICE. ICE has many missions, and can't always get to these fraud cases. Plus, it is very difficult for an outside agency to run these investigations when all of the necessary files and applications are the property of CIS.

^^^what he said^^^

I can't remember the number of times we were told by our service oriented bosses we had to be nice to our "customers" - the same people we wanted to arrest and/or keep out of the country. I also agree CIS needs some sort of law enforcement component. I was talking to someone from CIS yesterday and he told me that if they encounter some sort of criminal violation or someone with a warrant they are not allowed to detain the person and have no law enforcement authority whatsoever.