TPM Muckraker

« previous | MUCK HOME | next »

Myers Stepping Down As ICE Chief

The Department of Homeland Security has announced that TPMmuckraker favorite Julie Myers will step down as head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), effective November 15th.

Myers, the niece of former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Richard Myers, had little experience in homeland security issues when she joined DHS, but was known for her loyalty to the White House. Her husband, John Wood, has served as chief of staff to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff.

ICE has been in the spotlight during her tenure -- and not for the right reasons.

First, there's this from earlier this year:

Last Halloween, at a fundraising event for charitable organizations held at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Headquarters Building, they held a costume contest. And the winner was a white lawyer dressed in dreadlocks and prison stripes.

When it came time to present himself to the judges, among them Julie Myers, the chief of ICE, he said "I'm a Jamaican detainee from Krome -- obviously, I've escaped." Krome is an ICE Detention facility in Miami that is mostly filled with Jamaican, Haitian and Latin American detainees. The judges, Myers among them, laughed, according to a report (pdf) issued yesterday by the House Committee on Homeland Security.

(Click through to see the picture of Myers and the contest winner -- it's worth it!)

Then last week, on the eve of the election, law enforcement sources leaked to the Associated Press the news that Barack Obama's aunt, Zeituni Onyango, had been denied a request for asylum four years ago. The leak, which is being looked into by internal investigators at ICE, appears to have violated government regulations, and, as TPMmuckraker reported Monday, may increase the chances that Onyango could be persecuted if she's deported.

In a statement announcing Myers' departure, Chertoff said that Myers approached him about stepping down in mid September.


10 Comments

| Leave a comment
user-pic

How convenient that a Bushie loyalist who may have been involved in leaking confidential information in violation of government regulations in an attempt to help a GOP candidate actually discussed her intention to resign last September before this happened. Heckuva job, Julie!

One Florida voter interviewed on NPR said he voted for McCain because he thinks the grown-ups should be in charge of the White House. How is running our government like a high school clique the same as having the grown-ups in charge?

user-pic

Was the "grown ups" thing a dig on Obama or a dig on Bush?

After all, Julie Myers is, I think, 33 years old? And Bush's current Deputy Chief of Staff at the White House is 26... That's the kid who didn't complete undergraduate studies, was in charge of Bush's breath mints and then somehow got a Harvard MBA...

Grown ups indeed.

user-pic

I think Julie Myers will be getting a Medal of Freedom and the companion pardon from Shrubby.

user-pic

I heard that guy on NPR. Grown-ups indeed. He might as well have called Obama "boy".

You think that Myers could remain in her position until January 20th? How utterly unprofessional and 'unpatriotic'. Bailing on the already sunk ship to save her own behind.

user-pic

This is good news. However, if it's determined that Myers was responsible for the illegal leakage of Onyango's immigration status, she should receive her just due.

user-pic

So, here's how it works:

First, you hire people who are clearly not qualified to do the job.

Most importantly, you make clear that their loyalty is to you, not the rule of law.

Then, they do you the favors.

Then, they step down, cuz you know, that was what they were planning on doing anyways.

Finally, you wish them luck with those pesky subpoenas.

--------------

The world will forever remember the cavalier manner with which the Bush administration destroyed the lives of countless, powerless people.

user-pic

Julie Myers was and is one of the hackiest of the hacks. Prior to taking over Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a position for which she had only vague qualifications, she proved her incompetence at MULTIPLE agencies where she had political appointments.

user-pic

Please let this be the last we ever see of Julie Myers in "public service". The woman has no regard for even the most basic human decencies.

Myers, like every other member of Ken Starr's independent counsel, was rewarded for ruining the lives of people whose only wrong was an association with the President Clinton.

Myers knowingly and willfully persecuted Susan McDougal with the intent purpose of overthrowing the government for political gain. Myers might as well have wiped her ass with the Constitution for all the regard she has ever shown it.

Myers's reputation as a sadistic, coldhearted bitch was so bad, she had to write an WaPo op-ed last year to assure people that she no longer tortured prisoners whose only fault was a desire to live in the United States.

I only hope that one day, Myers is made to suffer the way she made her helpless victims suffer. Until that time, I will derive some small satisfaction knowing she will burn in hell for eternity.

Americans should never forget that the people who thought nothing of wasting enormous amounts of taxpayer time and money pursuing the Clintons are the very same people who have saddled us with a ruined economy, two wars and a human rights record on par with Myannamar.

Menace to society doesn't begin to describe how dangerous people like Julie Myers really are.

user-pic

Props to Tim Dickinson over at Rolling Stone who called the source of the leak on Obama's aunt.

http://www.rollingstone.com/nationalaffairs/index.php/2008/11/01/leakgate-did-julie-myers-leak-obama-aunts-immigration-status/

user-pic

A good resource TPM could provide is tracking where these rats scurry to as they leave this sinking ship. Good riddance.

Leave a comment

Advertisement
Please disable your adblocker!
Ads are how we pay the bills!

Subscribe
Tip Line

Josh
Marshall

Bio

Zachary
Roth

Bio

Advertise Liberally
Share
Close Social Web Email

"To" Email Address

Your Name

Your Email Address