Julie Myers, who heads Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), unmasked her true character recently at a Halloween party she hosted on behalf of a charity.
The event was meant to raise money for the Combined Federal Campaign, which is a federal government charity effort similar to the United Way campaign. But Myers must have deemed it an appropriate event to also raise awareness of her affinity for the bygone era of Minstrel shows.
Myers, the leader of a federal law enforcement agency that has some 15,000 employees, was part of a three-member panel at the Halloween event that was assigned the holiday task of doling out awards for the best costumes. Some 50 to 75 people were at the Halloween gala, according to press reports, so the competition was fierce.
But apparently, in Myer’s mind, one of the winners was a clear-cut choice. That individual played off the law enforcement theme of the gathering by donning a striped prison outfit as a costume. His originality was only outdone by his creativity. In a clever allusion to the century’s old history of slavery and its more recent Jim Crow cousin, the ICE employee also sported a dreadlock wig and blackface.
Myer’s was so overwhelmed with the sheer brilliance of this individual’s attire that she and two other individuals on the judging panel selected this white employee’s Halloween getup for the most original costume award. Caught up in the excitement of the moment, Myers also sought to memorialize the moment by posing for a photo shoot with the blackfaced reveler.
But there’s always some party bore who wants to spoil the moment. As a result, when word of this individual’s honor spread, some ICE employees complained because they found his costume to be “offensive.” Who could have guessed?
But Myers and ICE, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), reacted quickly, destroying all of the photos (or evidence) of the winning entry and quickly issued an apology to all the usual groups, including the National Association of African-Americans in the Department of Homeland Security, and to House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.
Myers’ apology did include a caveat, however, which was communicated to the press through an ICE flak who claimed that technically the ICE employee was not wearing blackface, but rather only a “skin bronzer.” The ICE spin manager also claimed that Myers did not realize the costume-award winner was gobbed up in make-up until after the event, when some ICE employees complained.
Following the ICE Minstrel show, there were the usual politically motivated protests from a few Democrats, such as U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who threatened to derail Myers’ still-pending nomination to the post of assistant secretary overseeing ICE.
Myers has served as the de facto head of ICE since January 2006, when President Bush did an end-around Congress and put her in the job through a recess appointment. Congress, at the time, had threatened to reject her nomination because of her lack of experience and concerns over charges that she was little more than a Bush administration crony. Prior to overseeing ICE, Myers served for a short time as DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff’s chief of staff, and is married to his current chief of staff — and happens to be the niece of Air Force General and former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers.
Given Myers’ connections to the insider Beltway elite, we can expect Sen. McCaskill’s protest will likely go the way of other Democratic blustering to date. After all, Democrats in the Senate initially protested but the Senate still recently approved the nomination of a new attorney general, Michael Mukasey, who would not rule out allowing the use of innovative torture tactics against brown terrorist suspects. Why would the Congress behave any differently when it comes to a less-pressing matter like an ICE party featuring an “original” Minstrel costume?
And DHS Secretary Chertoff seems to be satisfied with Myers apology. After all, he brought Myers up the ranks and worked in concert with his social circle to fulfill her nepotistic destiny, so he knows she comes from good stock.
The Big Picture
So, it seems, the only person to suffer the crush of the political fallout from creating a red-faced moment for Myers and the Bush Administration in this case is the Minstrel man himself. That low-level ICE employee has been placed on administrative leave pending a further investigation of his costume.
That double standard has some employees within DHS crying foul, including Samuel St. John, who works with Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a sister agency to ICE.
“The individual who wore the costume is with (DHS’s Office] of Detention and Removal and he has been put on administrative leave,” St. John says. “But when it’s one of their own [top brass like Myers], they sweep it under the rug and go after the working person to try and make an example out of them. … It’s a pattern.”
And St. John talks with some authority on the subject.
St. John decided to tangle with the top brass at Customs (Customs was folded into ICE in 2003 as part of the creation of DHS) in the mid-1990s when he filed an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) discrimination complaint over what he describes as a racist incident.
St. John’s EEO battle with Customs, which lasted some seven years, had its genesis at a 1994 staff party held at Customs headquarters in Washington, D.C. St. John alleges that Charles Winwood went out of his way to belittle Hispanics by attending the luncheon event dressed in the stereotypical sombrero and serape of a Mexican peon.
At the time, Winwood was a senior executive with Customs, then part of the Treasury Department.
Winwood’s rising-star status within Customs, however, did not dissuade St. John from speaking out against him in what St. John deemed a matter of honor. In a May 1998 letter written to then-Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin, (the parent agency of Customs at the time) St. John states:
“I have enclosed photographs of one of your senior executives, Mr. Charles Winwood, assistant commissioner, Office of Strategic Trade, in which Mr. Winwood demonstrates the agency’s attitude toward Hispanics, in this case Mexican-Americans. Mr. Winwood decided to wear a sombrero and serape in order, in his words, ‘to look like a Mexican’ for a TexMex luncheon sponsored by his office. ... I am of Hispanic descent, and I am very proud of my heritage. When I see such displays of blatant insensitivity, especially from a senior executive, it is impossible to ignore or just pass it off as an isolated incident. I have filed a formal complaint on this matter….”
St. John says that as a result of speaking out against Winwood, he has been denied promotions while Winwood weathered the event unscathed and continued to rise through the ranks of Customs, taking over the agency’s top spot in January 2001 with the retirement of Commissioner Raymond Kelly — who is now the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department.
St. John says he contacted members of Congress, including members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, concerning Winwood’s behavior at the time, but they did nothing. “I got no response,” St. John says.
The Roundup
The leadership of Customs, and its successor agency ICE, has a long history of tolerating and even rewarding racism within its ranks. History offers evidence for that claim.
Customs was among the three federal law-enforcement agencies that were the subject of congressional hearings in the 1990s in connection with an event called the `Good O’ Boy Roundup,’ and all had agents attending or organizing the event.
The Good O’ Boy Roundup was an annual party held in the backwoods of Tennessee that was marked by blatant racist activity. The other two agencies involved in the 1995 congressional hearings were the U.S. Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) -- both also part of the Treasury Department at the time.
“On July 11, 1995, a newspaper article appeared on the front page of the Washington Times entitled, Racist ways die hard at Lawmen’s retreat -- Annual ‘Good O’ Boy Roundup’ cited as evidence of ‘Klan Attitude’ at BATF,” states a March 2002 court filing by the law firm of Shaffer, Rapaport & Schmidt, which at the time represented African American BATF agents as well as Hispanic Customs agents in class-action discrimination lawsuits filed against their agencies.
“... The article detailed allegations of racist misconduct by personnel of the BATF and other federal law enforcement agencies [including Customs] at an annual retreat outside Ocoee, Tenn.”
The court pleadings continue as follows:
“... The tape (of the event) was shocking. It showed a ‘Nigger check point’ sign at which, ostensibly, cars were checked to determine whether blacks were trying to attend the Roundup. Another sign asked, ‘Any niggers in that car?’ There were also Confederate flags posted at the event.
“In his testimony (before the Senate Judiciary Committee in July 1995) BATF Director John Magaw … acknowledged that racist activity had taken place at the Roundup every year it occurred since 1985. Director Magaw described to the committee some of the activities at the Roundup, including a skit that was put on in which a person dressed as a Ku Klux Klansman simulated performing sodomy on a person with a blackened face.”
In the wake of the Congressional hearings in the mid-1990s prompted by the "Roundup," little appears to have changed with respect to the racist atmosphere of federal law enforcement agencies. Myers’ recent display of bigotry is just one more example of that reality.
The case of Customer supervisor Ricardo Sandoval is yet another illustration.
Sandoval, who served as the resident agent in charge of the Customs Office of Investigations in El Centro, Calif., in July 2000 won a U.S. Court of Appeals case in which Customs was challenging a 1998 lower court’s finding that he had been the victim of discrimination and retaliation. In that lower-court case, Sandoval raised allegations that a neo-Nazi ring was operating inside the Customs Service in the San Diego area. The case stemmed from an incident in 1992 in which Sandoval’s first-line supervisor in the Office of Internal Affairs in Calexico, Calif., ordered him to investigate a complaint that involved a white supervisor assaulting a black officer.
Legal documents filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., in May 2002 in a related class-action discrimination lawsuit against Customs describe the rock-throwing incident as follows:
Several white Customs managers had thrown rocks at Ken Lakes and it appeared to be racially motivated. One of the perpetrators wore a Nazi Swastika ring. Evidence was developed showing that these Customs managers collected Nazi memorabilia and they had scrawled swastikas on lockers and elevators in Customs buildings.
Sandoval came to believe that a neo-Nazi group was behind the incident. He reported it to his superiors and recommended that it be referred to the United States Attorney’s Office for prosecution as a “hate crime” under the civil rights statutes. His request was denied and he was told that Customs would send out a memo saying inspectors should not throw rocks at black employees.
Sandoval ignored his superiors and reported the results of his investigation to the United States Attorney’s Office, where the case was referred to the Justice Department’s hate crimes unit in Washington, D.C.
Thereafter, Agent Sandoval’s upgrade to GS-14 (rank) was denied and he was not selected for the Internal Affairs/Office of Enforcement rotation. He did not receive temporary acting supervisory assignments. Based on the foregoing, Agent Sandoval filed an EEO complaint alleging discrimination and retaliation.
In 1998, a California federal jury awarded Sandoval $200,000 for discrimination and retaliation. Several jurors said they believed that corruption and discrimination may be systemic within the Customs Internal Affairs unit where Sandoval worked in 1992.
And then there’s the case of the “Racist Manifesto.”
In the late 1990s, an anonymous letter was sent to Customs headquarters by a Customs agent in El Paso, Texas. The letter was addressed to Raymond Kelly and sent to headquarters in the spring of 1998, about three months before Kelly was sworn in as Commissioner of Customs. On September 29, 1998 — nearly two months after Kelly took over the helm at the agency — an Internal Affairs unit from Customs headquarters was dispatched to the El Paso office to investigate the allegations made in the letter.
Copies of the anonymous letter and the subsequent Customs investigative report were obtained from the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). In addition, related legal documents were obtained in which the anonymous letter writer is identified as Special Agent Sean Mulkearns.
In the correspondence, Mulkearns makes a series of unsubstantiated charges concerning a group of Hispanic Customs agents working in the El Paso Customs Office of Internal Affairs. Mulkearns is Caucasian, and the individuals referred to in the missive as “Mexican Mafia” are Hispanic Customs agents.
Among the accusations made in the letter are the following:
“There are a number of agents/supervisors which have banded together into what the … office calls the ‘Mexican Mafia.’ These agents have gravitated to the Office of Internal Affairs. They have and are pursuing what can only be called ‘vendettas’ against a number of agents. ... Many of these vendettas started years ago but these Mafia agents never forget.”
Later in the letter:
“All of these ringleaders/agents [the Mexican Mafia] have started their careers, either as patrol officers, inspectors, or El Paso police, in the El Paso office’s jurisdiction. They have significant ties and dealings with smugglers. Some rumors state that some smugglers are in their close family relations, but that information is closely guarded. They have positioned themselves to know when one of their ‘OWN’ relatives or close friends is being investigated and to snuff out any competition. ... They [the Mexican Mafia] have gravitated to and infiltrated the Office of Internal Affairs [in Customs’ El Paso office) in a slow and progressive manner.”
Later in the letter:
“I believe if these rogue agents [the Mexican Mafia] are allowed to solidify into a ‘Hit Team’ in IA [Internal Affairs], it will eventually lead to physical violence and possibly someone being shot.”
Mulkearns at one point refers to the Hispanic agents as a “band of low lifes” and says they should be forced to submit to polygraph tests. “If they refuse to submit, then they should be transferred—with no hope of returning to the El Paso area,” Mulkearns’ letter states.
“I have always believed that nothing sanitizes better than shining the light of day onto it,” the letter concludes.
It is signed (spelling as it appears in the letter): “Sempre Fi, a Good/Honest Customs Agent.”
In response to the letter, and under the watch of Commissioner Kelly, an Internal Affairs unit was flown to El Paso to investigate the charges in Mulkearn’s letter.
The findings of the investigative unit, called a “Flying Squad,” according to the their report, were as follows:
• The agent who wrote the letter admitted under oath that he “wrote the letter because he/she did not get selected for an agent position” in Internal Affairs [IA] at the El Paso office. “During [Mulkearns’] debriefing on Oct. 8, [he] stated that [he] was ‘pissed off’ at the time [he] wrote the letter primarily because [he] applied for a position with IA El Paso and was not selected.”?
• Mulkearns admitted under oath that he “embellished some of the information/allegations contained in the anonymous letter.”
• Mulkearns admitted under oath that he “included false information in the anonymous letter.”
• Mulkearns admitted under oath that “the anonymous letter contained information/allegations that were hearsay, speculation and the perception of certain individuals who do not like some of the [Hispanic agents].
“The Headquarters Internal Affairs/Flying Squad [investigation] did not reveal any evidence of misconduct by Office of Internal Affairs/El Paso personnel as described in the anonymous letter … [and] could not corroborate any of the allegations delineated in the anonymous letter,” the investigative report states.
Despite this fact, and an admission in the investigative team’s report that it was “identified early in the investigation” that “many of the allegations were identified as rumor, speculation or unfounded,” the investigation proceeded “in an effort to determine if there was a perception that Internal Affairs/El Paso agents were targeting Office of Investigations/El Paso personnel.”
“Although the [Hispanic agents] voiced their disgust with the allegations and their resentment for the label ‘MEXICAN MAFIA,’ the agents conducted themselves in a courteous and professional manner throughout the … investigation,” the investigative report states.
In addition, even though he admitted under oath that he “embellished” and included “false” information in the correspondence sent to Kelly, Mulkearns was given an opportunity by the investigative unit to rewrite the letter.
Even after the rewrite, the allegations were determined to be unfounded, according to the investigative report, which concluded by stating that “no further investigation by the Headquarters Internal Affairs Flying Squad is anticipated.”
In the wake of that investigation, Mulkearns received a plum duty station assignment. In addition, the Hispanic agents who were the targets of Mulkearns’ letter were dispersed to different posts within the Customs Service — as was requested in the letter.
More of the same
And for the critics who might dismiss the experiences of the El Paso Customs agents, St. John and Sandoval — as well as the dozens of Hispanic and African American agents who participated in class-action discrimination lawsuits against their agencies — as old examples of racial tensions that have since been corrected in the racially enlightened era of the Bush administration, then how can they explain away the continuing pattern of racism revealed in more recent cases?
As the director of ICE’s Office of Investigations, Marcy Forman oversees some 6.000 special agents and more than 150 ICE field offices. So she wields tremendous power.
The legal case that shines a light on Forman’s racist management style involves an African American U.S. Customs Inspector (Norman Green) in Houston who in 1998 applied for one of two open special agent’s position with U.S. Customs — which has since become part of ICE under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Despite applying, Green was not considered for the special agent job, and instead two other individuals (both white) were selected for agent positions, one of whom was clearly less qualified than Green.
Green filed an EEO complaint in 2001 and an administrative judge ruled in is favor in February 2006, indicating that Green had established a prima facie case based on race discrimination.
In April 2006, DHS issued a final order rejecting the judge’s finding and then appealed the case to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). In January of this year, the EEOC reversed the agency’s final order — a ruling favoring Green.
As part of the ruling, the EEOC indicated that the recommending and selecting officers at Customs essentially acted as the “cat’s paw” for the Assistant Special Agent in Charge in Houston (then Marcy Forman) who made the discriminatory recommendations that prevented Green from getting the special agent’s job.
The EEOC said Forman, at the time Green applied for the special agents job, “essentially ignored (Green’s) qualifications” and the administrative judge concluded that Green’s qualifications were “superior” to that of a candidate who was ultimately selected for the agent’s post.
From the EEOC ruling:
Norman Green, Complainant, v. Michael Chertoff, Secretary, Department of Homeland Security, Agency
Hearing No. 330-2004-00026X
Appeal No. 0720060058 ?Agency No. HS 00-ICE-000142
Jan. 19, 2007
U.S. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION
… [Forman] met with and encouraged Customs Inspectors to apply for Criminal Investigator positions and had in fact met with [Green]. However, [Green] described his meeting with [Forman] as brief, cold and noted that [Forman] did not make eye contact with him and seemed uninterested in his qualifications for the position.
… The [administrative judge] found that [Forman] essentially ignored [Green’s] qualifications in recommending [another individual] … over [Green].
… The [administrative judge] considered the testimony of [a witness for Green], a retired agency inspector supervisor, who stated that during his tenure with the agency (of some 30 years), he could not recall any African American males promoted from within to the position of special agent. He stated that many were qualified, but they were not considered, while Caucasian inspectors were quickly promoted.
… [Another witness for Green, an African American Customs Inspector] stated that [Forman] told him at one point that his "black ass would never become a special agent" when [Forman] was unhappy with [the witness’] actions in connection with his performance on a particular case. The [administrative judge] found the evidence showed that [Forman] was motivated by discrimination when she recommended [another agent] over [Green] for the position of Criminal Investigator (Special Agent).
… In the instant case we find that substantial evidence supports the [administrative judge’s] determination that discrimination on the bases of race and color occurred when [Green] was not selected for the position of Criminal Investigator and [a white individual] was selected instead. Specifically, we find the record supports the [judge’s] finding that [Forman’s] recommendations were communicated to the recommending and selection officials.
… We order the agency [ICE] to take the following actions:
- Within 30 days of the date this decision becomes final, the agency shall promote complainant to the position of Special Agent (Criminal Investigator) … retroactive to November 11, 1998.…
- Within 60 days of the date this decision becomes final, the agency shall pay complainant $139,957.00 in back pay and other benefits for the period of time between November 11, 1998 and November 16, 2005.…
- Within 60 days of the date this decision becomes final, the agency shall pay complainant the sum of $75,000 for non-pecuniary, compensatory damages;
- Within 60 days of the date this decision becomes final, the agency shall pay complainant the sum of $32,377.56 for attorney's fees and costs;
- Within 60 days of the date this decision becomes final, the agency shall consider taking appropriate disciplinary action against the responsible management official [Marcy Forman]. The agency shall report its decision to the Compliance Officer referenced herein. If the agency decides to take disciplinary action it shall identify the action taken. If the agency decides not to take disciplinary action, it shall set forth the reason(s) for its decision not to impose discipline.
- Within 180 days of the date this decision becomes final, the agency shall train all responsible agency employees in the agency's facility in Houston, Texas, concerning the prevention of race and color discrimination and the agency's duties to ensure that similar violations do not occur….
Apparently, Myers didn’t get the memo on that prior to sitting on the judging panel at the recent Halloween party. Forman, by the way, subsequently rose up the ladder at ICE after her stint in Houston and still serves as the director of ICE’s Office of Investigations, under the direction of ICE chief Myers. In that position, Forman is charged with overseeing ICE’s nationwide effort to roundup “undocumented immigrants,” most of whom happen to be people of color.
And then there’s the recent case of Renae Baros, a Hispanic ICE administrative support employee in Las Cruces, N.M., who formerly worked as an investigative assistant in ICE’s El Paso office.
Baros, in a lawsuit filed in federal court in El Paso, alleged that she was denied promotions and subjected to frivolous investigations after reporting that her supervisor sexually harassed her in the workplace.
Baros’ case went to trial several weeks ago and a jury returned a verdict finding that ICE Associate Special Agent in Charge Patricia Kramer, who is white, did retaliate against her for “her complaint of sexual harassment against a supervisor.”
Kramer was the No. 2 person in charge of ICE’s El Paso office when Baros’ problems played out. In that position, Kramer was instrumental in creating a hostile and discriminatory working environment in that office, Baros’ attorneys argued in court pleadings.
From Baros’ court pleadings:
Ms. Kramer’s disdain toward women in general in her office and towards Hispanic women led to 10 Hispanic females filing a Congressional Complaint that led to an internal investigation of Ms. Kramer’s discriminatory practices…. That investigation was conducted by Senior Special Agent Steven Cooper.
The Plaintiff [Baros] has asked for this document in discovery and is entitled to it since it will bolster [her] claim of gender and racial discrimination.
… [Baros’] attorney has also developed information that Ms. Kramer referred to those who died in the so-called House of Death matter in a derogatory manner when she stated “they’re just Mexicans.”
And yes, as the “just Mexicans” comment suggests, the House of Death mass murder is also marked by antipathy toward people of “bronze” skin tones.
In that case, an ICE informant played a leading role in a dozen murders in Juarez, Mexico, as part of a narco-trafficking investigation. After ICE leadership became aware of the first murder in August 2003, they authorized the continued use of the informant, resulting in an additional 11 murders at the House of Death. All of the victims were Mexican, including one U.S. legal resident named Luis Padilla.
Racism, without a doubt, is at the core of why the House of Death murders were allowed to occur, according to Sandalio Gonzalez, who headed DEA’s office in El Paso at the time and blew the whistle on the government’s complicity in the murders.
“If this had been a city on the Canadian border, these murders would not have happened,” Gonzalez told Narco News previously. “Our government would not allow Canadian citizens to be tortured and murdered…. But, in the House of Death case, they did let it happen because it was El Paso and Juarez and a bunch of Mexicans that they don’t give a shit about.”
And apparently, Congress “doesn’t give a shit” either, since in the wake of national and international press coverage following on the heels of Narco News’ coverage of the House of Death, that august body has yet to call a single hearing to investigate the government’s role in the torture and slayings of a dozen people of color in Juarez, Mexico.
But then for people like Myers — and for the politicians who harbor an underlying bigotry — ruling over the people wouldn’t really be any fun if they couldn’t wear masks that disguise their true character, would it?
Welcome to The Great American Minstrel Show that is our government.
For more in-depth coverage of the events outlined in this story, check out the following links: Borderline Security, the House of Death, and this reporter’s Notebook. A summary of mainstream media coverage of Julie Myers' Halloween judging prowess can be found at this link.
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