INS Probe of Raid Finds Fault With Own Agents

Immigration agents who raided a Camarillo engineering firm earlier this year acted in an unprofessional manner in dealing with workers, a federal internal audit has found.

Workers complained that INS agents used derogatory terms to describe employees, such as “Pedro” and “rabbi,” during the Feb. 17 raid.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service report further alleges systemic problems in the procedures that agents use to identify people who might be in this country illegally and employed by a U.S. business.

“Let me assure you that unprofessional conduct toward the public by employees of this agency is not tolerated,” said Allen Erenbaum, director of congressional relations for the INS in Washington.

The INS Office of Internal Audit conducted its investigation after receiving a complaint from Bill Wood, president of Wilwood Engineering Inc. in Camarillo.

Wood’s company was raided by 20 INS agents, many of whom were working at the federal agency’s district office in Camarillo.

Of the 10 company employees arrested, seven were later determined to be illegal immigrants; they have since returned to their native countries.

Although Wood never objected to the review of his employment documents, he did complain that immigration agents used inappropriate racial and religious remarks in addressing Latino workers and another employee who is an Orthodox Jew.

“I was sure [the audit] would say they did something wrong,” Wood said Thursday. “Bashing illegal immigrants has become popular without people thinking about the implications.”

The federal audit “corroborated two of Mr. Wood’s allegations regarding the conduct of INS personnel,” but INS officials would not provide specific details, citing privacy considerations.

George Grap, a machine programmer at Wilwood who was herded with 180 employees into a small training room where the documents check occurred, said his co-workers deserve an apology from the agents who harassed them.

“I haven’t heard the ones who did it actually admit anything,” he said.

Kim Christensen, Wilwood’s human resources manager, said the company’s employees were anxiously awaiting the outcome of the investigation. Many workers said the harassment was instigated by one agent, she said.

“All the employees said he ‘cowboyed’ the whole situation. We’ll be watching” to see if he is punished, Christensen said.

Rico Cabrera, a spokesman for the INS in Los Angeles, said Thursday night that his office was still reviewing the audit report and would not comment. J.T. Watson, who heads the Camarillo INS office, did not return a message left at his office seeking comment.

A final report detailing what action the federal office will take is due within a few weeks.

So far, no INS agent has been placed on leave in connection with the allegations, according to federal officials.

The investigation included detailed interviews with 21 INS employees and 25 Wilwood employees, Erenbaum said.

The raid at Wilwood headquarters, in the 4700 block of Calle Bolero, came after a routine check of hiring documents in January revealed as many as 72 discrepancies, an INS official said.

During the questioning the day of the raid, Wood said, agents disregarded employees who appeared Caucasian, and were aggressive with Latino employees.

“Some people who didn’t speak English well, but were American citizens, were intimidated,” Wood said Thursday. “They approached each Hispanic person and assumed they were lying. It was rather frightening.”

None of the individual employees who were allegedly harassed has filed a lawsuit, but they complained to public officials.

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), an outspoken proponent of increased enforcement of workplace immigration rules, has asked for a detailed report on the allegations of problems in the Camarillo office and what steps will be taken to prevent such misconduct.

“There is no excuse for violating a person’s civil rights or treating people in a degrading manner,” Gallegly said.