INS Officials Are Balking at Inquiry Prompted by Gallegly : Investigations: Authorities say top immigration staff may have tried to deceive the Simi lawmaker about conditions at Miami facility.

A U.S. Justice Department investigation prompted by Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) is being hampered because some top immigration officials are refusing to cooperate with investigators without their attorneys present, officials said this week.

The Justice Department’s inspector general is looking into whether Immigration and Naturalization Service officials attempted to deceive Gallegly and other lawmakers who were visiting Miami facilities on a fact-finding trip in June.

In a letter to Gallegly, more than 40 INS workers accused their bosses of improperly releasing detainees from their holding cells prior to the lawmakers’ arrival and instructing agents not to wear their weapons belts, handcuffs and holsters while members of Congress were around “to present a kinder, gentler image.”

Since Atty. Gen. Janet Reno called for an investigation of the allegations in July, Inspector General Michael R. Bromwich and his staff have conducted more than 300 interviews throughout the country, Bromwich said in an Oct. 23 letter to Gallegly.

But Bromwich said “our ability to expeditiously complete the investigation has been hampered” because five senior INS officials in Miami, Burlington, Vt., and Washington, D.C., have refused to answer investigators’ questions without legal counsel present.

In an interview, Gallegly said the delays will only make him monitor the probe more closely.

“When you have five senior-level people who refuse to testify without having an attorney present, I think that means they may have concerns about what they’ve done,” Gallegly said. “Any time anyone knowingly lies to members of Congress and they are high-level federal employees, that is a very serious act. And that’s exactly the allegation we’re talking about here.”

An INS spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter, saying it is standard policy not to speak about ongoing investigations.

Others noted that it is common for top government officials to consult an attorney while being questioned by investigators, and that it does not necessarily suggest anything improper.

The controversy began when Gallegly, who chaired a special task force on immigration reform, took a fact-finding trip to Miami on June 10 with a handful of colleagues, including Rep. Carlos J. Moorhead (R-Glendale), Rep. Gary A. Condit (D-Ceres) and Rep. Andrea Seastrand (R-Santa Barbara).

After they returned to Washington, Gallegly received a four-page letter from INS workers saying their bosses had been dishonest with the visiting congressmen.

The workers said 149 illegal immigrants were removed from the Krome detention facility outside Miami on June 9 and 10, just before the congressional delegation arrived. Of those, the INS employees said 83 were temporarily sent to other INS detention facilities or local jails, 54 were paroled into the local community and 12 were deported or voluntarily sent back to their native countries.

“We feel that senior INS management officials participated in an active deception as to the true working conditions and size of the problems we face as a nation with illegal immigrants,” the employees wrote. “There were some verifiable actions that they took to make these problems ‘go away’ temporarily while you were here.”

The two-day trip to Miami was one of three arranged by the immigration task force during its preparation of a report on overhauling the nation’s immigration laws. There were earlier stops in the San Diego area on April 8 and New York City on June 9.

Each trip drew a handful of the task force’s 54 members. Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) was a member of the task force but did not attend any of the trips.