INS Chastised for Action Against 2 Agents

The Immigration and Naturalization Service violated federal whistle-blower protection laws late last year when it demoted and penalized two U.S. Border Patrol agents who openly complained about lax security along the Canadian border in the wake of Sept. 11, according to two independent federal offices.

The Border Patrol agents, based in Detroit, talked to a newspaper and appeared on NBC-TV’s “Today” show, where one of the agents said that “the northern border is vulnerable” and “terrorists know it.”

The statements prompted INS supervisors to try to fire the agents, but eventually they settled on reassignments, 90-day suspensions and one-year demotions, discipline that was put on hold after the Justice Department inspector general initiated an investigation.

INS supervisors told the Office of Special Counsel that the INS punished the agents--local Border Patrol union President Dan Hall and local Vice President Robert Lindemann--for violating a media gag order.

The special counsel office ruled that the move was retaliation and a violation of the federal whistle-blower act. The Justice Department inspector general agreed.

It’s the fourth time in four years that the INS has been taken to task by the independent Office of Special Counsel for retaliating against whistle-blowers who testified before Congress, talked to investigators or talked to reporters. In each case, the INS reversed its disciplinary actions.

“We were doing what we felt necessary to make America a safer place,” said Hall, 41. “I took an oath to defend and protect the U.S. Constitution, not the immigration service.”

Lindemann, 40, a former Marine who has spent his career with the government, said the actions have been hard on their families. “To be turned on like this, it is just devastating.”

Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine, whose office also investigated the Detroit case, essentially agreed that the discipline was probably in violation of the whistle-blower act.

“We seriously question the decision to propose discipline against Hall and Lindemann and believe it would not be upheld,” Fine wrote INS Commissioner James Ziglar.

“In sum, we believe the INS’ proposal was unsound and that the INS should reevaluate whether it has a basis to go forward with discipline against the two agents,” Fine wrote.

INS spokesman Russell Bergeron declined to comment Thursday about the special counsel and IG reports because they “address issues that are the subject of an ongoing personnel action.”