Hiring freeze, spending restrictions take toll on Homeland security bureau

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau will continue a hiring freeze and restrict nonessential spending for the foreseeable future, a spokesman said Friday.

ICE employees say the hiring freeze, which has been in effect since March, and spending restrictions are negatively affecting their work and morale.

"We are not making new hires and we continue to not make non-mission-critical expenditures," said ICE spokesman Russ Knocke. "Certainly the hope would be that we would get to the point where hires could be made…but it's premature for me to speculate with respect to a timetable for fiscal 2005."

ICE initiated the hiring freeze in order to deal with financial problems. In September, the bureau ordered its offices to refrain from nonessential spending, such as travel, temporary duty assignments, equipment and supply purchases, and permanent change-of-station moves.

Employees at field offices around the country have told Government Executive that the restrictions are taking their toll. One agent who asked to remain anonymous said some ICE offices are taking away cell phones and pagers from agents due to a lack of funds, and forcing some agents to carpool to work.

He said many ICE special agents want to be transferred to the Customs and Border Protection bureau.

"ICE is currently in shambles, from morale to budget problems to a terrible public image, and the vast majority of my colleagues have been praying we would be sent back under Commissioner [Robert] Bonner in CBP," the agent said.

Knocke said ICE is working with the Homeland Security Department and private companies to audit its budget. He said the bureau saved $120 million from January to September through spending restrictions.

He added that he is aware of the experiences that employees around the country are having, but emphasized that ICE continues to perform its national security missions.

"The theory that guidance has been given to modify mission-critical operations is completely false," he said. "We continue to give very clear guidance to go about the national security mission of ICE."

Knocke also said that ICE has had "remarkable success." For example, the Justice Department on Friday recognized six ICE investigators for spearheading one of largest Internet piracy cases ever. On Tuesday, ICE announced that its Office of Detention and Removal Operations set a record in 2004 for the removal of illegal aliens.

Knocke said ICE faced unprecedented challenges starting up, which included merging budgets and operational requirements for six divisions coming from four different departments.

"I would argue," he said, "that within the 22 agencies of homeland security, we had the most difficult start-up."