Two INS contract employees were arrested on charges of willfully destroying documents that had been filed with the INS. The contract employees were assigned to the INS California Service Center in Laguna Niguel, California, with responsibility for processing incoming INS mail. One served as the assistant manager in charge of the file room, and the other served as the file room's senior supervisor. A joint investigation by the Los Angeles Field Office and the INS developed evidence that in January 2002 the assistant manager ordered the senior supervisor and other file room supervisors to begin shredding a backlog of approximately 90,000 unprocessed documents. By late March 2002, the backlog was eliminated because of the shredding; however, the assistant manager instructed the senior supervisor and other employees to continue shredding incoming unprocessed documents to prevent any further backlog. The shredding stopped on April 4, 2002, when INS officials discovered two file room clerks shredding unprocessed documents during the evening shift. The types of documents shredded included U.S. and foreign passports, birth and marriage certificates, and INS applications and notices. Judicial proceedings continue.
On January 8,
On January 8,