john_kowalski
31.01.03, 18:29
A federal grand jury has indicted two workers at an Immigration and
Naturalization Service office on charges they destroyed tens of thousands of
documents to eliminate a backlog of paperwork.
The shredded documents — as many as 90,000 — included applications for
asylum, citizenship, visas and work permits, and supporting documents such as
U.S. and foreign passports and birth and marriage certificates, according to
the indictment.
Dawn Randall, 24, and Leonel Salazar, 34, were each charged with one count of
conspiracy and five counts of willfully destroying the documents, which had
been sent to the INS' California Service Center in Laguna Niguel.
The data processing center handles paperwork received from people in Arizona,
California, Nevada, Hawaii and Guam.
The indictment Wednesday alleges that Randall, a file room manager, ordered
Salazar, a supervisor, and others to shred unprocessed documents last
February after the backlog reached about 90,000.
The indictment also says Randall told Salazar and others to shred the
documents on the evening shift to avoid detection by other workers.
A month later, the backlog was reported at zero. Federal prosecutors said
Randall and Salazar continued shredding incoming documents to hold down the
backlog until INS officials discovered the activity on April 4, 2002.
The other workers were not charged because they were lower level workers
acting on instructions, prosecutors said.
The immigration service opened a hot line for people who suspected their
paperwork had been destroyed and gave applicants the benefit of the doubt if
they could not replace documents.
The INS was confident it had rebuilt most of the lost files, INS spokeswoman
Lori Haley said.
Randall and Salazar were scheduled to be arraigned Monday in U.S. District
Court in Santa Ana.
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UWOLNIC ICH UWOLNIC MOICH PRZYJACIOL I KOLEGOW !!! protestuje - oni dobrze
robili UWOLNIC ICH!!!
