INS Corrective Action

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on corrective actions the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) negotiated after INS inappropriately acted against several of its agents, focusing on: (1) the status of the corrective actions; and (2) new allegations of INS harassment. GAO found that: (1) INS has complied with all the corrective actions that are within its control, but has not met the schedules for compliance; (2) the corrective actions included priority consideration for the agents applying for funded vacancies, overtime, merit pay, and leave restoration for one agent, reimbursement of one-sixth of the agents' reasonable attorney fees, and the removal of derogatory statements and documents from the agents' personnel files; (3) four investigations against the agents remain open; and (4) the agents have alleged that their supervision by a director who has been disciplined for taking inappropriate action against them constitutes further harassment by INS and is not in keeping with the corrective action agreement.