ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility combats employee corruption
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Most law enforcement officers are committed to their work, trustworthy and make the world a safer place. From time to time, however, a corrupt employee makes his/her way into an organization.
Constantine Kallas and Devon Samuels are two of those individuals. Samuels served as a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer at the Atlanta-Hartsfield Airport. There, he assisted a drug trafficking organization launder money and smuggle weapons onto an aircraft. He also made false statements about immigration documents and helped facilitate marriage fraud. Kallas was an attorney for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Los Angeles. During his time in that position, he posed as an immigration judge, accepting thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for securing benefits for illegal immigrants.
Cases like these exemplify why ICE has an Office of Professional Responsibility. This office investigates criminal and administrative misconduct committed by ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) employees and contractors. It also addresses complaints of civilians who impersonate ICE or CBP employees; as well as individuals who try to bribe ICE or CBP employees.
"We develop our information the same way ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) develops its leads," said Sean Quick, deputy assistant director for the Office of Professional Responsibility.
Those leads may come from general investigations conducted by HSI special agents or they may come through the office's Joint Intake Center hotline. The hotline began as a way for employees to report instances of employee misconduct, but soon morphed into a tool the public can use.
After extensive investigations spearheaded by ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility and other agencies, Kallas was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison and ordered to pay a fine in the amount of $296,865. His wife was sentenced to four years for her role in the scheme. The Samuels investigation resulted in 17 arrests and multiple seizures of firearms, narcotics and currency. He was sentenced to eight years in prison.
"These cases certainly go to the heart of what law enforcement agencies do. Corruption cases tear at the trust that the public has in government. We will not tolerate criminal misconduct and will hold employees accountable for their betrayal. It works against everything we stand for," said Timothy Moynihan, assistant director for the Office of Professional Responsibility.
Learn more about the Office of Professional Responsibility.
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