September 20, 2005

More on Bush's pick to head Immigration and Customs Enforcement

As previously discussed, Bush has selected someone with little or no immigration experience to head the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Her name is Julie Myers, and she's never managed a large bureacracy.

On the other hand, Myers is not, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the former head of a horse show association. So, she's at least got that going for her.

The previous report said that George Voinovich (R-OH) had questions about her qualifications, but according to the WaPo's "Immigration Nominee's Credentials Questioned" he's since changed his mind.

They also reveal this:

Myers worked briefly as chief of staff to Michael Chertoff when he led the Justice Department's criminal division before he became Homeland Security secretary.

Myers also was an associate under independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr for about 16 months and has most recently served as a special assistant to President Bush handling personnel issues.

Her uncle is Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, the departing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She married Chertoff's current chief of staff, John F. Wood, on Saturday.

It all sounds like one big cozy family. Yet, some people still have questions:

"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.

I don't know whether she can do the job or not, but - even just in the interests of looking good - shouldn't the Bush administration - just once - choose someone who's overqualified? I mean, don't they have a tiny little wee bit of a fiduciary duty to we the populace?

Of course, there's also the question of whether the Bush administration really cares whether the head of the immigration agency will enforce the immigration laws, or, as we've seen in the past, whether they'll work to sidestep them.

See also "Poor leadership at ICE cited as security threat" for more on the issue of choosing the best people for the job.

UPDATE: There's much more on Myers here. Meanwhile, over in the Democratic Party's fantasy world:

[Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.] threatened Tuesday to block approval of a Homeland Security Department nominee until he receives a secret FBI memo about terror suspect interrogations that he's been seeking for months.

Of course, if he gets that then he'll probably just go ahead and approve her, rather than considering all the reasons why he shouldn't.

Posted to Immigration2005b at September 20, 2005 10:28 AM

Comments

Bush has let the antimerit activism grow cancerously on the moderate right; this used to be a specialty of the left. Now we have shameless antimerit recruitment eating into republican administrations.

Posted by: John S Bolton at September 20, 2005 02:09 PM

Like many others this is a position -- a figureheads -- and not a real job requiring experience.

Posted by: eh at September 21, 2005 02:18 AM