Political cronyism still guards our gate
- Darrell Worley, "Have You Forgotten?"
The only thing that occurs with less frequency than me agreeing with clueless Conservative chanteuse Michelle Malkin is Anna Nicole Smith forming a complete sentence. This is going to be one of those rare, all-planets-in-alignment moments, and no one is more surprised than I am.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service is no more. Ding, dong, the Witch is dead, right? Not so fast, my friend. It turns out that the INS has been absorbed by the behemoth that is becoming the Department of Homeland Security (you know, those cut-ups that brought us Ready.gov??). Now what was once the INS (in a move than smacks of retitling a garbageman as a "sanitary engineer") is now the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. Only the name has changed, if only because there is no one innocent enough to protect.
Except for the name change, it appears that it is business as usual at INS/BCIS. To wit, Malkin explains:
TODAY, the Immigration and Naturalization Service officially ceases to exist. But the same disastrous mix of political correctness and political cronyism that plagued INS will preside over the new "customer service" branch of the old agency.
Case in point: President Bush has nominated Houston banker Eduardo Aguirre to head the Department of Homeland Security's Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. Rank-and-file employees from New York to Arizona -- many of them loyal but dispirited Bush supporters -- are livid at the prospect of another clueless financier taking over the reins.
So much for boosting post-Sept. 11 morale.
Aguirre will oversee the administration of all immigration benefits, from citizenship applications to asylum requests to work permits. He will be in charge of preventing any more terrorists from exploiting amnesty, student visas, marriage, "adjustment of status" delays, and other processing backlogs -- as dozens of al-Qaida operatives, including the Sept. 11 hijackers, have done over the past decade. And he will be counted on to stamp out an entrenched cover-your-rear culture based on the self-serving motto: "Big cases, big problems, small cases, small problems, no cases, no problems."
So, who is Aguirre? What makes him qualified to hold this important position? Like President Bush's failed former INS chief and Paine Webber executive James Ziglar, Aguirre is a politically connected banker with zero experience in immigration law.
One could possibly make the argument that Tom Ridge was at least a reasonably qualified hire. For a figurehead, he seems to have at least a few blips on his resume that might lead one to presume that he might be capable of running an agency whose mission is to prevent terrorism. For managers below him, however, being qualified to serve was not of primary importance.
To compensate for his alarming lack of professional experience, the White House is touting Aguirre's personal history. It is indeed a compelling story. As a teenager, Aguirre was airlifted out of Cuba under Operation Pedro Pan. Between 1960 and 1962, some 14,000 children were sent to America unaccompanied by their parents to escape Fidel Castro's fledgling communist dictatorship. Aguirre became a naturalized American citizen and embarked on a successful career in banking in Houston.
An INS spokeswoman who declined to be named told me enthusiastically that Aguirre "is a living product of our immigration system." He may not have any experience studying or administering immigration law, the spokeswoman argued, "but he has lived it."
Well, so did the 13,999 other refugees who came here under Operation Pedro Pan. So, for that matter, have many millions of other people who have proudly become American citizens like Aguirre. That doesn't make them qualified to run a beleaguered immigration bureaucracy with 15,000 employees, a $2 billion budget, and an abysmal history of lax law enforcement.
Oh, but not to worry. The INS spokeswoman tells me the banker's management experience -- 24 years at Bank of America, two years at the Export-Import Bank, and a stint as a University of Houston regent under then-Gov. George W. Bush -- will "inspire loyalty."
Moreover, she tells me, he's a "can-do guy" from the private sector who "won't be heavy-handed, you know, won't be firing people, not like on a control mission." Just what we need in the new Homeland Security department: another bureaucrat who won't be cleaning house.
But not to worry. Aguirre understands the need to promote "multicultural richness." (Every biography of Aguirre notes that he was named "one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in the nation" by Hispanic Business Magazine.) He is "uniquely attuned to the Hispanic community" and is "sensitive" to the immigrant community.
Does no one in Shrub's decision-making hierarchy have a clue as to what a potential PR nightmare this is? Do they not remember the 9.11 hijackers that were allowed into the US by the INS? Should we not at least be making an effort to bring in someone who hasn't been hired on the sole basis of political fealty?
Unfortunately, Aguirre can't speak for himself due to "Senate protocol."
But, of course not. Some poor Senator might stumble across the fact that Aguirre is little more than a Shrub political appointee whose primary qualification is his ability to raise money for Republican political candidates. We wouldn't want anyone to question Aguirre's fitness to serve, now would we? Because then the terrorists will have won.
But not to worry. After his nomination is approved, the spokeswoman promised me, he'll be happy to tell us what he knows and where he stands.
If the Shrub Administration expects this country to take the war on terrorism seriously, they had best begin by setting the example themselves. Appointing unexperienced political hacks on the basis of political loyalty and fundraising skill does nothing to advance the cause of homeland security. Nor does it do anything to inspire confidence in the Administration's ability to manage the aforementioned war.
This looks like just another political appointee looking to capitalize on his political connections. Mr. President, have you forgotten?
