Immigration News

Immigration Officials Opposed DHS Plan To Subject Immigration Functions To Possible Privatization

In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, four ranking committee members - Governmental Affairs Ranking Member Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., Judiciary Ranking Member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Ranking Member Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Appropriations Ranking Member Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. - presented evidence that plans to subject the 1,100 Immigration Information Officers' jobs to competition with private contractors were ill considered.

"New information has come to our attention that reinforces our conviction that the competition will not improve the Department's performance and is contrary to the national interest," the Senators wrote.

Documents obtained from DHS and other evidence show that officials of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services determined the competition should not be held while the department and immigration services were undergoing a major reorganization. The evidence also reveals that BCIS officials determined the competition would not lead to greater efficiency, and that the job functions of the information officers had not been properly classified for possible privatization.

"The concerns of the Department's experienced immigration agency officials were rejected by DHS leadership," the Senators wrote. "Evidence indicates that their focus may instead have been at least partly on achieving numerical government-wide quotas which Congress had expressly prohibited."

Last September, Lieberman, Leahy, Kennedy, Byrd, and 30 other Senators wrote Ridge opposing the competition, suggesting it was designed to fulfill the Administration's drive to privatize work performed by federal employees. The Senators said the competition could potentially compromise the nation's security and cause yet more delays in the immigration process. In a separate letter dated October 22, Lieberman, Leahy, Kennedy, and Byrd questioned Ridge on the department's reliance on outside consultants in structuring the competition. 

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