Over 2,500 Department of Homeland Security Employees Have Been Convicted of Crimes
A federal auditor has reported that 2,527 employees of the DHS or conspirators working with these employees have been convicted of corruption or other felonies since 2004. He reported this to the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee.
He is presently dealing with over 1,500 open cases.
He is a busy fellow.
Here are the figures by agency. FEMA, 1,644; Customs/Border, 358; Immigration/Customs, 166; TSA, 133. The others are classified as “other.”
Convictions have increased since 2004. They peaked in 2007, then fell. They are now rising.
The Inspector General’s office has 219 employees. The DHS has 225,000 employees. The auditor says that his office is overwhelmed. The number of criminal allegations is growing.
As a way to reduce the case load, the IG has sent cases back to the agencies to investigate.
There are lots of cases in the pipeline. Here is a report on the border town of McAllen, Texas.
On April 19, the Center for Investigative Reporting wrote that 80 criminal employee misconduct investigations by the DHS IG’s McAllen, Texas division were being reviewed by U.S. Department of Justice and other federal officials after allegations surfaced that IG agents were “fabricating” their progress on investigating the cases. The allegations prompted a federal grand jury to get involved.
When the state gets big, corruption increases. We should expect this. With 225,000 employees, the opportunities are many.
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Published on August 28, 2012. The original is here.