Officials Launch Probe Into INS Agents’ Actions

Federal officials launched an investigation Friday into allegations that immigration agents made inappropriate racial and religious remarks during a search for undocumented workers at a manufacturing company earlier this week.

During the Wednesday sweep, Immigration and Naturalization Service agents found seven illegal employees at Wilwood Engineering Inc. in Camarillo. Those workers have since returned to their native countries. While Wilwood officials don’t quarrel with the documents check, they complain bitterly that some of the 20 agents working the sweep referred to Latino employees generically as “Pedro,” addressed an Orthodox Jew as “rabbi” and threatened to shoot one employee if he tried to run from the law.

Immigration officials take those allegations seriously, said Rosemary Langely Melville, deputy director for the INS’ Los Angeles District, who filed a complaint with the agency’s Office of Internal Audit in Washington after hearing of the allegations.

“We have swiftly acted to start an investigation,” Melville said late Friday. “That’s indicative of our concern that something [inappropriate] may have occurred and to make sure that our employees conduct themselves only in a professional matter in dealing with the public.”

Melville declined to elaborate on the probe, including whether it focuses on all 20 agents involved or a few individuals, how long it might last and what possible sanctions there would be if wrongdoing were verified. She said that no INS agents had been put on leave in connection with the allegations because the investigation is in its early stages.

“Once an investigation is initiated, [INS auditors] will be interviewing people, checking documents,” she said. “It will be a very valid investigation, conducted outside the Los Angeles area.”

Officials at Wilwood, which manufactures disc brakes for race cars and recreational vehicles, said they welcomed the INS’ interest in their complaints, although with trepidation.

“We’re pleased to see them taking up an investigation,” said Wilwood human resources manager Kim Christensen. “But [company President] Bill Wood told them he’s a bit leery to have them come again, given what happened Wednesday. But Ms. Melville sounded very sincere in wanting to get to the bottom line of this.

“Our main concern is the way our employees were treated in the raid and the harassment they faced, specifically from the one [lead] agent cowboying the whole thing. I don’t know if incidents like this happen very often, but they should be stopped.”

Christensen said company officials will meet with their attorney Monday. On Friday, Wilwood employees were preparing a list of specific complaints for Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), who has sought increased enforcement of workplace immigration rules in Ventura County and elsewhere.

Gallegly said Friday that all people--legal residents and illegal immigrants alike--should be treated respectfully during INS actions.

“I am aware of complaints that agents made references that were ethnic in nature and demeaning, references that, if verified, are certainly inappropriate, if not a violation of a person’s civil rights,” he said. “I will not accept that. I will ask for a formal investigation from the [INS] commissioner. But first, I want specifics. I want details. And I want documentation.”

If allegations are substantiated, Gallegly said, wrongdoers should be punished “to the fullest extent of the law.” By the same token, he said, Wilwood should be punished if company officials knowingly hired illegal immigrants.

Wilwood officials have not yet decided whether to file a federal civil rights complaint with the FBI, which could potentially spur a second investigation into the matter.

INS agents searched the Wilwood headquarters in the 4700 block of Calle Bolero on Wednesday afternoon after a routine check of hiring documents begun in January revealed as many as 72 discrepancies.

After rounding up the company’s 180 employees into a small training room and examining identification, the agents detained 10 suspected illegal immigrants. Three were later released; seven agreed to leave the United States.