Thread: Bias in Immigration Agency- Rep.Conyers -1994

Bias in Immigration Agency Is Subject of House Hearing

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By DEBORAH SONTAG,
Published: November 18, 1994

Representative John Conyers Jr. gave the nation's immigration chief what he called a "public spanking" today during a hearing before the House Government Operations Committee that detailed accusations of widespread discrimination against black employees of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Doris M. Meissner, the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization, promised that she would work to correct employment problems at the agency. She pledged to hire and promote more minority members and to train the agency's executives, almost all of whom are white, to be more openminded.

But Mr. Conyers, Democrat of Michigan and outgoing chairman of the House committee, said he did not want to hear "any more promises and pledges" from an agency that he said operated in a "time warp," as if it had "just discovered that there are laws against racial discrimination."

"I'm going to need a lot more than your personal commitment to change," he told Ms. Meissner. "This matter is clearly not going to be resolved by sensitivity sessions for people who don't give a damn."

Black immigration officers say they are excluded socially and professionally by the "old boys" style network that controls the agency. The Border Patrol, the traditional stepping stone to advancement in the agency, is 1 percent black, and there are no blacks in senior executive positions.

In 1991, 19 black agents in Los Angeles, angered about repeatedly being denied promotions, filed a complaint against the immigration service. Last spring it grew into the largest discrimination case ever against a Government agency, a class action on behalf of 850 black officers.

At today's hearing, Ms. Meissner said the agency would make an offer "imminently" to settle the case. She said she was "very distressed" about the poor representation of blacks in the higher ranks of the agency, which she called "an unacceptable situation" that she inherited a year ago when she became commissioner.

But the black officers who testified said that their supervisors generally did not express the same concern. Instead, the officers said, they not only suffered discrimination but also retaliation for pursuing discrimination complaints against the agency.

Clarence L. Smith, a black Panamanian-born deportation officer who works at an immigration jail in Alabama, testified about what happened to his career after he gave a statement to an investigator supporting another black officer's discrimination complaint. Suddenly, he said, after 13 years with the immigration agency, his English was found to be deficient, and his performance ratings plummeted.

John Thomas Wills, a special agent in Los Angeles, testified that his supervisor ordered him to accompany Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat of California, to an immigrant neighborhood where he was operating undercover as a drug dealer. When he protested that his cover would be blown and the Senator endangered, his supervisor cursed at him, returned to his office and strapped on his gun to continue the conversation. Mr. Wills said black agents in his office were constantly being undermined by white supervisors.

Maria Estela Padilla, who served as an Equal Employment Opportunity counselor for the immigration agency for two years, said the agency's managers "twisted and turned and made a joke out of" her efforts to battle discrimination.

"The I.N.S. is run by white males," Ms. Padilla said. "Because the I.N.S. has to scrutinize so closely those of other races, colors and nationalities, I believe that I.N.S. officials grow to believe they are superior. They make a mockery of civil rights."

My concern is: What does Rep. Conyers think of Blacks being displaced from the workplace by employers and illegal criminal aliens?

Now that is what I call discrimination and racism, against US citizens who serve honorably protecting this county. Meanwhile La Raza (the race) and LULAC are screaming discrimination and racism at anyone who tries to enforce the law against those that have already committed a crime: coming here without permission.

Rep. Conyers must be getting ready for Obama to get into office.....as he will surely put Illegals , and Blacks in positions currently held by Asians and Whites...even if they are not qualified for the jobs and/or haven’t earned them. And then he will take all the wages earned by higher income people (mostly white people) and tax them at a much higher rate and give their tax dollars to minority people that were also just given their jobs ….and we can’t forget that Obama also expects the American tax payers to fork out health care bucks for Illegals!

Obama and Conyers are racist and their victims are anyone that is not Illegal or Black….let’s put it right on the table.


Personally, I think that “Affirmative Actionâ€

Story Published: November 18, 1994

Sorry, ELE, but illegals are displacing blacks in schools and on the job hunt. I have thrown a few contractors I hired off my property when they show up with an entire crew of non-English speakers. At least here in NC I know that when anyone black shows up they are American citizens. I could care less what their race or color. I just want to feel comfortable knowing that they are Americans.

In the Virginia area there are illegal Africians so this is going to get more difficult to base status by color most guilty of breaking and entering our country. We are in more trouble than people realize. And these people from Africa most likely are going to be Muslim.

I am so concerned that my one child when I mentioned a post from the ALIPAC; am told that the news on television and newpaper is lacking on informing the Americans. This child says mom we aren't hearing all this. I said, "go to ALIPAC and you will learn what is going on in America."