[aclug-L] NYTimes.com Article: I.N.S. Shredder Ended Work Backlog, U.S. Says

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I.N.S. Shredder Ended Work Backlog, U.S. Says

January 31, 2003
By JOHN M. BRODER 




 

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 30 - Tens of thousands of pieces of mail
come into the huge Immigration and Naturalization Service
data processing center in Laguna Niguel, Calif., every day,
and as at so many government agencies, it tends to pile up.
One manager there had a system to get rid of the vexing
backlog, federal officials say. This week the manager was
charged with illegally shredding as many as 90,000
documents. 

Among the destroyed papers, federal officials charged, were
American and foreign passports, applications for asylum,
birth certificates and other documents supporting
applications for citizenship, visas and work permits. 

The manager, Dawn Randall, 24, was indicted late Wednesday
by a federal grand jury, along with a supervisor working
under her, Leonel Salazar, 34. They are accused of ordering
low-level workers to destroy thousands of documents from
last February to April to reduce a growing backlog of
unprocessed paperwork. 

Ms. Randall was the file room manager at the I.N.S. center.
Mr. Salazar was her file room supervisor. The Laguna Niguel
center handles paperwork for residents of California,
Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and Guam and is one of four
immigration service centers around the country operated by
private contractors under I.N.S. supervision. 

According to the federal indictment, Ms. Randall ordered
her subordinates last January to count the number of
unprocessed papers in the filing center. They reported that
about 90,000 documents were waiting to be handled. In
February, the government says, she ordered at least five
night-shift workers to begin shredding many boxes of
papers. 

By the end of March, the backlog had been cut to zero, and
Ms. Randall ordered her subordinates to continue destroying
incoming paper to keep current, the government says. 

"There was no I.N.S. policy that required this, nor was she
ordered to do it by any superior, as far as we know," said
Greg Staples, the assistant United States attorney handling
the case. "The only motive we can think of is just the
obvious one of a manager trying to get rid of a nettlesome
problem." 

Mr. Staples said one frustrating thing about the case was
that most of the evidence had been carted out with the
trash and that it was impossible to identify all of the
victims. 

"It's like a murder case without a body," he said. "We will
never really know what was destroyed." 

The shredding was discovered in April by an agency
supervisor who witnessed what appeared to be unauthorized
destruction of documents. The I.N.S. office of internal
audit, the Justice Department's inspector general and the
United States attorney's office for Southern California
conducted the investigation that led to this week's
indictments. 

Ms. Randall and Mr. Salazar were each charged with
conspiracy and five counts of willfully destroying
documents filed with the I.N.S. The conspiracy charge
carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.
Each of the other counts can bring three years in prison. 

Their subordinates were not charged because they were
low-level workers acting on instructions, the government
said. 

After the shredding was discovered, the immigration service
opened a hotline for people who suspected their paperwork
had been destroyed. Agency officials helped petitioners
reconstruct their files and gave applicants the benefit of
the doubt if they could not replace the documents they had
submitted, said Lori Haley, a spokeswoman for the I.N.S.'s
western regional office. 

She said the agency made an effort last year to publicize
the problem and was confident that it had rebuilt most of
the lost files. She also said that additional staff members
had been hired at the center and that oversight had been
tightened. 

"Monitoring of the activities of the support services
contractor has been enhanced at the service center," Ms.
Haley said. "All materials to be shredded or destroyed are
reviewed first by I.N.S. personnel to make sure that no
unauthorized materials are destroyed." 

Ms. Randall's lawyer, Joseph G. Cavallo, said today that he
had not read the charges and would not comment. He said,
however, that Ms. Randall would plead not guilty at her
arraignment on Monday. Mr. Salazar's lawyer, Tom Brown, did
not return calls seeking comment. 

The four document processing centers are operated under a
$325 million contract with JHM Research and Development of
Maryland, which in turn subcontracts the operations to two
other companies. John Macklin, president of JHM, was
unavailable for comment. 

Mr. Staples, the federal prosecutor, said the contractors
were cooperating with the investigation and would not be
charged unless more evidence against them was developed. 

"If we had found criminal liability, we would have indicted
the companies," he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/31/national/31FILE.html?ex=1045031287&ei=1&en=3fa0ae0dca92d216



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