Senators warm to ICE chief at re-nomination hearing

At a Wednesday hearing on the nomination of Julie Myers to continue as head of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, the senators who opposed her in 2005 on the grounds she lacked experience said they were impressed by her track record since President Bush gave her a recess appointment at the beginning of 2006.

"You've done a terrific job," said Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, one of Myers' harshest critics two years ago, at the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing. "I'm grateful for it, and I'm grateful that you want to stick around. A lot of people are out circulating their resumes, and you want to stick with this thing."

In particular, Voinovich praised Myers' financial management of ICE, and said he hoped her efforts could provide a model for other agencies. Myers moved quickly after her recess appointment to tap ICE's first permanent chief financial officer and to centralize contracting practices.

Many of the senators said they would be reluctant to replace Myers at this point.

"I believe the American people will be best served if you are able to continue to see this transition through, rather than having a new leader who would have to learn how to manage ICE at the same time as he or she prepares to hand the reins to the next administration," said Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, who described her performance as adequate.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., was more enthusiastic, but he questioned Myers rigorously on what steps she was taking to improve employee morale, recruitment and retention at ICE. The agency, he noted, ranked 213 out of 222 agencies in the latest edition of the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government survey administered by the Partnership for Public Service and American University's Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation.

Myers cited her establishment of an advisory council to gather feedback throughout the agency as a key step.

"The other thing that came up was the management side of ICE was not strong, and agencies and officers in the field felt the lack of decisive leadership, so we've really strengthened that side to give the agents a sense of unified policies," Myers told the senators.

Myers also touted her March appointment of Charles DeVita to head ICE's Office of Training and Development as a significant step in improving training capacities. She said that under her watch, ICE has become more aggressive and proactive in its recruiting efforts and cited an agreement she signed on Tuesday with three historically black colleges that would help students at those schools find internships and permanent employment with the agency.

Committee members also expressed concerns about ICE's treatment of illegal immigrants in detention facilities. Lieberman noted that 65 detainees have died while in custody since 2004.

Myers referred to her decisions to hire quality assurance specialists to monitor conditions in larger detention facilities and to establish an independent Detention Field Inspection Group operating out of ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility.

Akaka asked Myers why she had not moved to regulate specific kinds of detainee treatment.

"You've said that improving conditions for detainees is one of your top priorities," he said. "But you've said that you oppose issuing regulations for the treatment of detainees. Why is that?"

"We are in the process of updating our detention standards to make them more performance-based," Myers responded, explaining that she felt regulations would hinder those efforts.

Myers did clash with Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., over the number of prosecutions of employers who hired illegal immigrants. McCaskill criticized Myers' methods of tracking employer arrests, saying Myers' lack of statistics demonstrated a lack of commitment to prosecuting employer violations of immigration law.

"Five hundred and thirty-seven people were charged in Missouri for kids using [fake] IDs in bars," McCaskill told her. "But yet we can't tell the American people how many employers have spent a day in jail."

Myers thanked McCaskill for her commitment to employer enforcement, and McCaskill suggested that her attention would not waver even if Myers was confirmed.

"I'll be obnoxiously attentive to it," McCaskill said.

The committee has yet to set a date for a vote on Myers.