Arrogance of Power

Howard Ezell, the western regional commisssioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, has again over-stepped the bounds of propriety, this time to encourage establishment of an immigration legislation lobby. His imprint on the new Americans for Border Patrol is evident, its leadership dominated by his friends.

Citizens have every right to organize to influence legislation. But it is not for individual administrators in government service to organize their own special booster groups. There is a sharp contradiction between Ezell’s interest in an expanded professional response to the immigration problem and his own corruption of professional standards in failing to distinguish between administrative, policy-making and political roles.

His unprofessional conduct has been demonstrated before, most recently in his crude intervention in the Los Angeles City Council controversy over the sanctuary issue.

INS Commissioner Alan Nelson has let it be known that Ezell has committed no violation of agency policy in organizing the lobby group. That is hardly a testimonial to the sound policies and practices of the service. On the contrary, it is additional evidence of the insensitivity with which the Immigration Service does much of its business.

Two other recent events raise serious questions:

--The INS finding last week that a border patrolman did not violate federal guidelines a year ago when he shot in the back and seriously injured a 12-year-old Mexican boy standing on the Mexican side of the frontier but assertedly throwing rocks at immigration agents. It was the third such finding supporting agents in incidents involving shooting.

--The muddle over Central Americans seeking political refuge. The INS director in Florida has approved deferring deportation of Nicaraguans because they may face mistreatment from the Sandinista government on return, which seems an appropriate decision. But the service has denied almost all requests for postponed deportation to El Salvador and Guatemala, where the risks to those returning appear far greater than in Nicaragua.

Ezell has been accused by Latino community leaders of “promoting fear” and “xenophobic rhetoric.” That is evident in his public utterances, that paint an exaggerated and almost hysterical view of the immigration problem. This may merely betray the anxieties of someone recruited politically and without prior immigration experience. But it does not facilitate appropriate controls of the flow of undocumented aliens. And it does not make easier the writing of laws to assure more equitable and effective control of immigration.