Homeland Security to compete immigration services jobs

Homeland Security Department employees who handle benefits and other services for immigrants will have to compete for their jobs within the next 11 months, the head of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services announced in an Aug. 1 internal e-mail to staff.

In the message, which was obtained by GovExec.com, BCIS Director Eduardo Aguirre Jr. said he planned to hold competitions for immigration information officer and contact representative positions, and award a contract for the work by June 30, 2004. Aguirre said he reached the decision after "extensive discussions" with officials at the Homeland Security Department.

BCIS employs 1,143 immigration officers and contract representatives altogether, but Aguirre has not yet determined how many of their jobs will be competed, or whether the competition will take place on a local or national level, said Dan Kane, an agency spokesman. The agency has hired Grant Thornton, a Chicago-based consulting firm, to provide advice on designing and conducting the competition.

Both immigration information officers and contact representatives serve as customer service specialists at BCIS offices. They usually are classified between pay grades GS-5 and GS-8 and are responsible for answering questions about immigration applications as well as determining eligibility for some benefits. There is virtually no distinction between the two positions, Kane said.

There's much more to an information officer's job than might meet the eye, according to Mary Lynch, vice president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2076. The officers are the "very lifeblood of our agency," she said. They not only answer questions, but also conduct face-to-face interviews with immigrant applicants and help solve application problems.

These are duties that contractors are not necessarily in a position to perform, Lynch said. Officers also have broad training that allows them to switch tasks as work flows change, she said. This flexibility is crucial, she added. Even if the officers were to win the competition and keep their jobs, their work would be constrained if it needed to fit within the confines of a contract.

Immigration officer and contract representative jobs are nonetheless classified as "commercial" under the 1998 Federal Activities Inventory Reform Act.

AFGE fought this classification, contending that the jobs are "inherently governmental" because they require interpretations of complex laws and regulations. But the union lost its initial case and a subsequent appeal.

"Clearly, while immigration information officers can and do make certain judgments in performing their duties, these decisions are administrative in nature and are made in accordance with well-established rules," wrote Bruce Carnes, chief financial officer at the Homeland Security Department in a May 19 ruling in favor of keeping the positions commercial. Homeland Security Undersecretary for Management Janet Hale rejected AFGE's appeal on July 22.

Having exhausted the right to appeal, AFGE plans to spearhead a political fight to prevent BCIS from holding the competition.

"Depending on whom you ask, it's too late to stop it," Lynch said. "But I don't necessarily believe that."

AFGE representatives will meet with lawmakers throughout the August recess to gain support, she said. She added that this approach worked well for seafood inspectors at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who recently won a FAIR Act appeal with help from Congress and industry.

Sens. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., plan to send a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge soon, objecting to the department's decision to open the information officer jobs to competition, according to Leslie Phillips, a spokeswoman for Lieberman.

The jobs are "essential to the orderly functioning" of BCIS, Lieberman said in a statement. "In the wake of Sept. 11, these immigration information officers have proven to be of vital service in detecting fraudulent activities by people who could pose a national security threat and in processing and adjudicating the applications of lawful immigrants."

Contractors should not be trusted with these positions, Lieberman noted. "Remember, it was just one year ago that an INS contractor processed the visas of two dead Sept. 11 hijackers."

Jason Peckenpaugh contributed to this report.