INS Agency’s Net Waits for Bribe-Takers

The bureaucratic pipeline for legal immigration and citizenship is swelling and, as the pressure on government employees to process the rising human tide climbs, so does the opportunity to accept bribes.

For the worldwide flood of would-be Americans, the Immigration and Naturalization Service is a bottleneck that stands between them and a better life.

There are quotas on the number of legal immigrants from most countries and delays in processing mean years between applying for citizenship and taking the oath.

“The benefits the INS has to offer the public are not exceeded by any other federal agency, with the possible exception of the Internal Revenue Service and maybe Customs,” said Ralph Paige, who heads the INS Office of Professional Responsibility in Los Angeles.

Some of the aliens and those who work for them look for a shortcut to those benefits. Many come from cultures where “if you want to get things done, you have to grease some palms,” Paige said.

It may seem to start innocently, he explained. A person who makes regular trips to the INS office to pick up and drop off forms gets friendly with several of the clerks. Maybe he brings them little gifts, takes them to lunch or invites them to a party.

Requests Start Small

Maybe someday he asks his friends at the INS for a favor by searching for a lost residency application or reinstating someone on the naturalization interview list who had missed an appointment.

No big deal.

But the “favors” on both sides keep increasing. Eventually cash may be traded for the clerk’s help in getting citizenship or permanent legal residency for an alien who is eligible for neither.

Once an employee has crossed that ethical line, the Office of Professional Responsibility, headed by Paige in California and the Southwest, is the end of the line.

“Many employees think of us as the Gestapo,” Paige said from his small office on the eighth floor of the downtown Federal Building.

Using informants and tips from honest employees combined with lots of work and a little luck, Paige and his small group of investigators hunt miscreants among the large work force in the INS Western Region.

And in Los Angeles, the hunting has been good.

Prosecution Rate Doubles

Paige said prosecutions in the Los Angeles office have doubled this year, but he stressed that does not mean corruption in the office has doubled.

“The work has always been here. We just have the staff up here now.”

Six current or former employees have been indicted so far this year. All were convicted or pleaded guilty.

Four of the corrupt employees were clerical workers who accepted bribes from Elgin Kwong, a former insurance broker who joined a ring that charged Taiwanese aliens up to $65,000 for citizenship documents.

The others were Dorothy Anaya, an immigration examiner, and her husband, Robert, a former INS criminal investigator.

Mrs. Anaya approved permanent legal residency and “green cards” for Taiwanese who were recruited by the husband’s Chinese-American business partner. The fee then was split between the Anayas and their partner.

Paige said he currently has 75 active cases, most from Los Angeles. About half the cases involve possible corruption, most of the others allege civil-rights violations by Border Patrol agents.

Although he spends his days tracking down reports of illegal conduct by his colleagues, Paige said, “The overall integrity of the (INS) employees is quite high.” He said the percentage of employees who succumb to temptation “is very small, especially given the pressures and the opportunities.”

The OPR “can’t stop a dishonest person, but with better controls we can increase the chance of getting caught,” Paige said.

He also said some of the blame for employees who go bad belongs with management.

Many clerical employees who deal with the public are not instructed about the pitfalls of accepting gratuities, Paige said.

“They don’t really understand. They don’t see what’s wrong with it. They don’t see how it can lead to bigger things, that after so many parties, dinners and gifts it’s hard to say ‘no’ when it comes time for the big favor,” he said.

His office has too little time and money to spend on ethics training “that could keep employees from getting into trouble. That’s real shortsighted of the INS and (OPR). It would pay big dividends in the long run by nipping a lot of problems in the bud,” Paige said.

The OPR was established in 1979 in the wake of a highly publicized FBI probe into INS corruption called “Operation Clean Sweep.” When the headlines subsided, careers were ruined and morale was damaged, Paige said.

“Clean Sweep left a bad taste in a lot of mouths. There was a lot of bad publicity and not a lot of results.”

The OPR tries to do its work more quietly. “The average file clerk probably doesn’t even know who we are,” he said.

But when an investigation does lead to a publicized prosecution, Paige said he hopes “the public perceives that the INS is cleaning its own house.”