April 27, 2007

Border Agents' Unanimous No-Confidence Vote: Will ICE Agents Vote?; Peppermint Patty Update


By Debbie Schlussel

This week, leaders of the National Border Patrol Council--the union of 11,000 of 13,000 Border Patrol agents--unveiled a unanimous vote of no-confidence in Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar.

More from the Houston Chronicle:

Local union representatives, rather than their national leaders, pressed for the vote at their recent convention in Corpus Christi, council Executive Vice President Richard Pierce said. More than 100 of the local leaders, most of them senior agents, participated.
"There is so much going on in this outfit. The morale is so shot because of all the policies the administration has instituted," said Pierce, a retired agent.


ICE's Marcy Forman-Friedman, Julie L. Myers & John Torres


Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is standing by his deputy, Aguilar, saying he is doing an excellent job.
We've heard that before: "Brownie, er . . . David, You're Doin' a Heckuva Job!"

Within the ranks, many believe the only way to reduce illegal immigration is to crack down on employers.
[Union President T.J.] Bonner, Pierce and others blame Aguilar for promoting legalization and guest worker programs. Also, they also accuse him of insufficiently defending his agents.

Agents are quitting at an increased clip, Bonner said, with attrition at 12 percent this year, up from 4 percent a year ago.

"I've been an agent for 29 years now, and I've never seen morale lower," he said.


A career Senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent writes that ICE agents would give the same vote of no confidence for ICE Chieftess Julie L. Myers a/k/a "The ICE Princess" and her top minions:

I am a Special Agent of ICE (Customs) with [more than two decades] on the job and I feel their [Border Patrol agents'] frustration and anger with the Bush Aministration and the folks who ran the last Congress for pushing the amnesty agenda. We passed the 1986 amnesty bill for illegals and what have we gotten? Yet another tidal wave of illegals coming to this country in search of low wage jobs, free education, free medical care, free public asssitance and freedom to demand that they not be prosecuted for their illegal entry.
The Govt. wont even enforce laws on the books to prosecute employers of illegals. We can use the past to determine how any new laws will be enforced.

I wonder how ICE employees would vote on their management and the administration policies if we were given the opportunity. If the recent survey of federal employees is any indication (222 of 222), succession may be the result.


Meanwhile, ICE Director of Investigations Marcy "Black __" Forman-Friedman a/k/a "Peppermint Patty" recently participated in an online chat with The Washington Post. (Hilarious--Even the far-left site which linked to the Post chat adopted my "Peppermint Patty" moniker for her.) She gave the usual BS answers filled with glittering generalities about how all is well in the imaginary land of immigration enforcement. But she couldn't seem to come up with a satisfactory answer as to why ICE removed its own press release from its own site announcing recent raids on illegal alien employers in Baltimore. How can ICE agents confidently and diligently do their jobs when their own agency is embarrassed that they actually enforced some immigration laws? (The question appears to have been posed by one of Peppermint Patty's own agents involved in the raids and upset by this.):

Baltimore: Marcy, why was the news release about the ICE raid in Baltimore removed from the ICE Web site about 30 hours after it was posted? No other article ever has been removed after being posted. Was it removed because some local political figure complained? The ICE news release has been captured and is still available on some non-ICE sites. Why don't you restore it to the ICE site?
Marcy Forman: I wasn't aware that it was, but I'll check on it. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. Check back at the Web site.


And she couldn't really answer this exasperated American:

Rosslyn, Va.: As a citizens who abides by the laws of this country, I am disheartened that others do not. I reported a known illegal alien to the department of homeland security and they have done nothing about it. I reported this two years ago. Why do we even refer to immigrants as illegal when the government does nothing to them for breaking the law?
Meanwhile, a number of New York ICE agents have reportedly been removed from duty and are under investigation for filing false voucher reports for undercover funds meant to investigate document and marriage fraud. Incredibly, their supervisor, Peppermint Patty's twin sister, Mona Forman, who oversaw the funds, remains untouched. As "punishment," Peppermint Patty appointed her sister as the acting Deputy Special Agent in Charge at JFK Airport.

ICE Agents who've worked for Peppermint Patty or are her friends have gotten high promotions elsewhere around the country, despite involvement in scandals bordering on criminal and/or lack of qualifications. (I am looking into all of this. Stay tuned.)

And they wonder why agents--involved in all areas of enforcing tighter borders and immigration laws--are thoroughly demoralized?! It's a bastion of cronyism and incompetence at the highest levels.

So, when do the ICE agents get to vote on The ICE Princess, Peppermint Patty, and Detention and Removal Operations chief John "Costanza" Torres (the man who wasted tens of thousands of immigration enforcement money on Tommy LaSorda, but can't find 600,000 illegal aliens he had in custody)?

If they ever get the chance, I predict the same unanimous vote of no confidence as the Border Patrol agents gave their "leader."

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