GovernmentExecutive.com

Despite some improvement in coordinating their activities, two Homeland Security Department agencies responsible for enforcing customs and immigration laws still face significant problems with information sharing and limited resources -- sometimes leading to sloppy investigations, government inspectors conclude in a report released Friday.

The Homeland Security Department's inspector general assessed current relations between Customs and Border Protection, which enforces laws along the border, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which enforces laws inside the country.

The continuing problems cited in the report could give fresh ammunition to lawmakers who, in the past, have called for the agencies to be merged.

"At times, CBP and ICE would find that both were investigating the same targets, but neither would know of this beforehand," the IG wrote. "For example, CBP officials in Miami, Florida, said they occasionally interdict boats used to smuggle aliens or narcotics and discover the boat was being tracked as part of an ICE investigation."

In another example, CBP officials in Chicago executed a sting operation involving fraudulent documents. But CBP did not inform ICE of the operation prior to its start and an unexpected increase of seizures and cases being referred for investigation overwhelmed ICE agents, according to the report.

On the positive side, the report concludes that CBP and ICE have made progress in meeting recommendations previously made by the IG to improve relations. In response to the report, ICE and CBP officials agreed that better coordination is needed but also cited many efforts they have taken and plan to take.

"In regular meetings, joint planning and real-time coordination, CBP and ICE are working together to achieve a high level of operational information sharing to ensure optimum mission achievement," the officials said. "In fact, over the last year, CBP and ICE have initiated new information sharing efforts, including revised protocols for terrorist-related threats and warnings, daily incident and threat information and analysis, a joint strategy for utilization of biometrics, the pursuit of joint training opportunities, coordinated intelligence-driven special operations, [joint task force] program alignment and international notification protocols."

But in other areas, ICE officials said it is not unusual for agents to learn about a narcotics seizure at the border from the Drug Enforcement Administration rather than from the Border Patrol, which is part of CBP. And CBP officials cited many examples of ICE not informing them of investigative operations within their area of responsibility.

A CBP official said these unknown investigative operations create a concern for officer safety, especially in remote areas, the IG reported.

"Border Patrol agents said that ICE does not routinely share actionable intelligence [and] ICE then says that contraband seized by Border Patrol often is related to a pending ICE investigation," the IG report said. "In addition, ICE agents said that when information on pending investigations is provided to Border Patrol, Border Patrol uses it to interdict incoming contraband or smugglers, which disrupts the ICE investigation."

The Border Patrol and ICE also continue to have difficulty sharing resources, especially limited tactical aircraft. "For example, because many air assets have been temporarily assigned to Arizona ... other sectors, such as Laredo, Texas, do not have the air resources to support operations within their sector," the IG said.

Sometimes, ICE operations do not receive needed tactical air support because of a bureaucratic approval process inside the Border Patrol, the IG added.

COMMENTS

• I have sat back and listened to all the blame games. But to make a long story short, the problem lies with decisions being made by appointees, the likes of Julie Myers. I have seen to many people placed in charge or slid into positions after the merge all the while knowing nothing of what they are in charge of. I am legacy INS. Alot of what is happening now happened with us. INS had thier hands tied, much like ICE does now. The immigration showdown is real and political. Not being able to check the immigration status of peaople in China Town in San Francisco or load up buses with all the illegals walking the streets of Phoenix or San Antonio. This is real and if you do it, what happens. Ask your RAC or SAC to allow an operation of this sort. I don't think so. But you can get a Border Patrol aircraft to transport drugs for a burn run. On another note and to address the last comment dated in May 11, 2007. INS investigations may have depleted the forfieture fund but was it your money? INS investigations (mainly alien smuggling) are time consuming and costly at times. Unlike a Customs drug case which was actually road kill (apprehended at the POE by the inspectors) the only thing to prove is knowledge, how hard is that. And then you have your own interpretors because the Customs investigators couldn't speak spanish. Now they call it ICE, still determined not to learn a second language. But it takes two to do thier job for them. When is legacy Customs going to step up and do thier part and enforce immigration instead of whining and not learning INS laws after almost five years. I believe two agencies should be moved from the border, ICE and DEA. ICE, beacause if it was not for the inspectors at the POE's catching the drugs, ICE would not have statistics. DEA, because if it was not for the Border Patrol catching the drugs, DEA would not have statistics. Allow CBP to process the drugs caught at the border, it is not hard and to prove knowledge, it is not hard either. Allow CBP Border Patrol an investigative Division, because ICE cares nothing of furthering immigration cases only drugs. Don't believe me, ask any legacy Customs investigator. Good Day. Will Mendoza Posted January 31, 2008 1:44 AM
• This is for the fool who alleged that Customs "milked the American people" out of millions, or billions, or trillions of dollars for 200 years. You are so ignorant and have such a slanted view of the world, that it is probably not worth my time to try and teach you, but here goes anyway. Customs was the primary source of revenue for the United States for much of our history. Customs duties were the main source of revenue to fund this nation's growth and development until the income tax was enacted in the early 20th Century. In recent years, Customs provided, and still provides, billions of dollars in revenue to this nation, which exceeds the amount spent on this agency by a ratio of at least 20 to 1. In other words, we take in a lot more than we cost, unlike INS. Since the merger to form ICE, legacy INS investigations have depleted the Treasury forfeiture fund, while putting relatively little back into it, because forfeitures in legacy INS cases are very rare. I know this for a fact, because I work asset forfeiture, and see the big difference in forfeitures between legacy Customs investigations and INS investigations. The next time you shoot your mouth off, you should at least look at the facts first, because your prejudice and ignorance are coming through loud and clear! DHS Posted May 11, 2007 11:33 AM
• Congress could act tomorrow in an attempt to fix all of this, but it has already inflicted significant, irreversible damage. Although I'm former Customs, I don't know about all of these highly trained, elite, premier agents that were supposedly in that agency. The idiots-per-thousand were no less in Customs than any of the other agencies for whom or with I've worked. But where I do agree with many is that Customs was a special agency in terms of how it was organized and the culture or esprit de corp that existed there. Those intangibles generally brought out the best in everyone, or at least put the pressure on everyone to give their best. If Congress could recreate Customs, the agency, tomorrow, just as it was in 2002, the leadership and the culture that made Customs what it was, are gone. I don't know if you could ever recreate that. OutOfControl Posted May 10, 2007 11:53 AM