U.S. Border Agents Called Vulnerable to Corruption
By ROBERT L. JACKSON, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTONWealthy Mexican crime syndicates that
control much of the cocaine and heroin trafficking in the
United States pose a major threat of corrupting U.S. agents on the
border, highranking federal law enforcement officials said
Wednesday.
Referring to Mexican drug barons, Thomas A. Constantine,
head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, also told a Senate
panel that "for the first time in our history, organized crime in the
United States is controlled by individuals who reside outside our
borders."
Constantine's views, and statements from other Justice
Department and Treasury officials, were presented to senators
looking into crossborder narcotics trafficking.
Sen. Charles E. Grassley (RIowa), chairman of the Senate
Caucus on International Narcotics Control, said that Mexican crime
lords "have resorted to largesale violence and bribery . . . to
incapacitate Mexican law enforcement." On the U.S. side as well,
"the possibility of largescale corruption is present," he said.
Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (DDel.), another caucus member, said
that the threat is "rapidly growing."
Raymond W. Kelly, the Treasury's enforcement chief, agreed
that corruption is a major challenge for the customs service, over
which his office has jurisdiction. "The enormous sums of money
being generated by drug trafficking have added a new dimension to
the threat," he said.
But Kelly insisted that specific cases of corrupt U.S. agents have
been "isolated."
Providing a firsthand account of the problem, a convicted federal
law enforcement officer wearing a black hood to conceal his identity
told senators how he was drawn into a drug conspiracy in exchange
for $50,000.
Using the pseudonym "Joe Daedalus," the former officer said
that Mexican nationals began to cultivate him socially, provided him
with gifts and asked him for information. He said that he learned
later that they were drug traffickers but by then "they had their
hooks into me."
Doris Meissner, commissioner of the Immigration and
Naturalization Service, said that the unprecedented growth over the
last three years of the U.S. Border Patrolapproved by Congress
as a means to combat illegal immigrationhas increased the
potential for corrupt agents.
"Most often, corruption represents the culmination of a history of
progressively serious misconduct," Meissner said.
"Therefore, we are always striving aggressively to identify and
deal immediately with all conduct problems."

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