Immigration Nominee's Credentials Questioned

Unlike most political appointments, the head of ICE is required by statute to have at least five years of experience in both law enforcement and management.

Many immigration advocates, ICE employee representatives and homeland security experts said they were troubled by the nomination of Myers to take over an agency with so many problems.

"It appears she's got a tremendous amount of experience in money laundering, in banking and the financial areas," said Charles Showalter, president of the National Homeland Security Council, a union that represents 7,800 ICE agents, officers and support staff. "My question is: Who the hell is going to enforce the immigration laws?"

I. Michael Greenberger, a former Clinton administration official who heads the Center for Health and Homeland Security at the University of Maryland, said the Myers appointment represents "pre-Katrina thinking, where political relationships were a very large factor."

"Post-Katrina, we now see that people need to be eminently qualified," Greenberger said.

But Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, which represents several thousand ICE employees, lauded Myers's government experience.

"That organization . . . is on some days almost dysfunctional," Pasco said. "I think Julie may be just the person to pull people and functions together to get them working right for a change."

During a hearing Thursday of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Chairman Susan Collins (R-Maine) and ranking Democrat Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.) quizzed Myers on whether her positions over the past five years qualified her for the job.

The most pointed questioning came from Voinovich, who said during the hearing that he wanted to meet with Chertoff to discuss Myers's qualifications. "I'd really like to have him spend some time with us, telling us personally why he thinks you're qualified for the job, because based on the résumé, I don't think you are," Voinovich said.

But Marcie Ridgway, Voinovich's communications director, said yesterday that the Ohio senator had resolved his concerns by talking privately with both Chertoff and Myers. Ridgway said Voinovich was not available to speak directly about the issue.