Posted on 04/11/2002 8:19:03 PM PDT by FreedominJesusChrist
For Immediate Release
Apr 11, 2002
Press Office: 202-646-5172
BUSH/ASHCROFT REWARDED MIAMI INS DIRECTOR WITH PROMOTION TO REGIONAL DIRECTOR POSITION
Robert Wallis Admits “Proudest Moment of His Life” Was When INS Agent Held Shotgun To Peaceful Protester’s Head During Illegal Raid On Elian Gonzalez’s Family Home In Miami’s “Little Havana”
(Miami) Judicial Watch, the public interest law firm that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and abuse, took the sworn testimony of Robert Wallis today, wherein the former Miami INS director revealed that he was selected for promotion to Regional INS Director and transferred to Texas in April 2001, under the Bush Administration and Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Wallis admitted, under examination by Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman, that the “proudest moment of his life” was captured in an Associated Press photograph of INS Supervisory Special Agent Gwenn Reed holding a shotgun to the head of a prone and “spread-eagle” protestor – Mario Miranda – during the illegal INS raid to return young Elian Gonzalez to Communist Cuba. Mr. Miranda is a retired Miami police officer and was responsible for safety and security around the Gonzalez home. Wallis’ testimony came during a Merit Systems Protection Board hearing for INS whistleblower and Judicial Watch client Rick Ramirez. Mr. Ramirez “blew the whistle” on anti-Cuban and anti-Hispanic bigotry in the Miami INS office, as well as INS supervisors’ orders to destroy all documents and computer records concerning the Elian Gonzalez saga. Earlier testimony from INS attorney Diana Alvarez confirmed that the orders to destroy documents and records came from INS Commissioner Doris Meissner.
Wallis confirmed that he was aware of Mr. Ramirez’s whistleblower disclosures, and of the pervasive anti-Cuban and anti-Hispanic bigotry in the Miami INS office.
Judicial Watch, as counsel for Special Agent Ramirez, has made repeated requests for over one year to Attorney General Ashcroft, asking that he take action in this matter.
“It is shocking that rather than take steps to clean out the Miami office of anti-Cuban and Hispanic prejudice, that instead Ashcroft and his Bush administration rewarded, with a promotion, the district director responsible for the prejudice. This shows insensitivity to the rights of Hispanics,” stated Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman.
A little time line info.....November 17, 2000
INS Deputy Commissioner Wyrsch to Serve as Acting Commissioner
WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice announced that Deputy Commissioner Mary Ann Wyrsch will serve as the agency’s Acting Commissioner upon Commissioner Doris Meissner’s departure today from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Mary Ann Wyrsch will serve until a new Commissioner is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Ms. Wyrsch was appointed INS Deputy Commissioner in March 1998 and since that time has been responsible for overseeing the day-to-day management of INS operations and its more than 30,000 employees worldwide.
INS Selects Central Region Director; INS Miami District Director Robert A. Wallis Returning to TexasWASHINGTON, March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) Acting Commissioner Mary Ann Wyrsch today announced the selection of Robert A. Wallis as Director of the Central Region Office in Dallas, Texas.
Mr. Wallis is currently the INS Miami district director. "I am deeply honored to be selected for this position," Mr. Wallis said. "I would like to thank Commissioner Wyrsch for placing her confidence in my abilities to perform in this most important and exciting position.
New Acting INS Commissioner Announced
On March 6, 2001, Kevin D. Rooney was appointed as Acting Commissioner of INS. He will assume this position from April 2, 2001. Rooney's prior position is as Director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), the agency that oversees the Immigration Courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals. EOIR, like INS, is an agency within the U.S. Department of Justice. Mr. Rooney will be replacing Acting INS Commissioner Mary Ann Wyrsch, who has accepted a position as the U.N. Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees. Mr. Rooney will hold the Acting Commissioner position until the appointment of a permanent INS Commissioner.
Of course, this all only applies if you want to insist that elections aren't massively rigged almost everyplace. Let alone who actually becomes the behind the scenes 'golden boy" and gets the air time and thereby gets 'picked" in the primaries.
I wish some Pakistanis would show up at my airport so I could parole them in and get a promotion.
Keep me posted.
There are only four Regional Directors, and they report directly to HQ.
We have not let any Mexican tuckers into the US yet. While this is being pushed, it has not happened yet.
Have you noticed how many on this forum attempt to defend the indefensible and apply some machivelian convoluted esoteric meaning to what the Prez and congress is doing?Just like the clinton's disciples. The dem's liberal programs are being initiated, but, they apply the aformentioned meaning the actions taken.
I have a problem with the misleading headlines, and the tabloid quality of their press releases.
Judicial Watch did not "uncover" anything related to the INS case, yet they claimed just that on another release. In fact, a citizen came to them with the information, and a need for help. Other citizens have come forth since as a result of that.
Neither Bush, nor Ashcroft had anything to do with the promotion of this individual anywhere, and to expect that either one of them could possibly have intimate knowledge of that level of Federal government operations is absurd.
There's something real creepy about using lies and distortions in a PR campaign promoting your ongoing struggle for truth and justice.
If Larry truly wants to win these battles, God Bless him and my apologies.
I also suggest that he should make whoever writes JW's press releases immediately available to the industry, and then find someone who can simply tell us the truth.
See...there we go again.
No, he's not.
There are others, among them the Landmark Legal Foundation, doing the very same thing.
Okay, if you really WANT Larry to succeed, you might want to put accountability in the right place and perspective. Your "he can't know everything" argument is a poor explanation, not to mention overly simplistic, as to why this man was promoted to a higher position within the INS. Of course Bush and Ashcroft cannot know EVERYTHING that goes on internally within government bureaucracy, but because of this, that gives them an even greater responsibility to appoint compentent people to those positions. Obviously, this did not happen, and you instead choose to blame Larry Klayman, one of the only people around fighting for Justice for the Cuban-Americans whose rights have seriously been infringed by the Federal Government.
So tell me, what has the Bush Administration or the Justice Department ever done to help the Cuban-Americans down in Miami whose rights have been infringed? Where is their accountability in the whole process?
You are attacking the wrong people here; Larry Klayman and Judicial Watch are doing EVERYTHING they can to help these people, while on the otherhand, the Justice Department is doing nothing to prosecute the real criminal here--those who didn't bother to obtain a search warrant to enter into a private citizen's home and those who harrassed peaceful protesters. The 1st and 4th Amendments were violated here by our own government and the Justice Department is doing nothing. Perhaps they have forgotten that American citizens have the right to peacefully assemble and protest and that Probable Cause and a search warrant is needed before they bust into someone's home. Ironically, Klayman and Judicial Watch are and you are attacking them.
Bush wouldn't even have known about this, and Ashcroft wasn't even in office yet.
More JW BS.
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