WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency told its employees Wednesday to stop volunteering for hurricane relief duty with the government's primary disaster agency so they can focus on helping New Orleans police instead.
In an internal memorandum distributed to Customs Enforcement employees, the agency's director of human resources, Christine M. Greco, directed workers to withdraw offers to volunteer with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Both agencies are under the Department of Homeland Security, and immigration and customs employees have been helping FEMA in rescue support roles such as helping hurricane victims fill out paper work and so on.
"We want to be careful we're not stretched too thin," said a spokesman for Customs Enforcement, Dean Boyd. "It's a daunting task helping ... local police."
Boyd said the decision was made with FEMA's approval. The disaster agency last week solicited more than 1,000 volunteers from elsewhere in the Homeland Security Department to support rescue operations and inform victims where to seek help.
Greco's memo, obtained by The Associated Press, told Customs Enforcement employees who volunteered that, "You will instead be part of the ICE effort to support law enforcement activities."
Greco praised the hundreds of employees who already had volunteered to work under FEMA, calling them "valiant and considerate." She said any Customs Enforcement employees unhappy with the new volunteer arrangement "may make their desires known through their chain of command."
Boyd said the immigration and customs agency already has deployed more than 700 law enforcement and support workers to the Gulf Coast, plus equipment that includes detention buses and mobile command centers.
