 DEMOTED INS EMPLOYEES SUES, CLAIMING RACE AT HEART OF DEMOTION
The former head of the INS office in Sacramento, California, is suing the agency over his demotion, claiming that it was motivated by racism. According to Lionel Nurse, who is black, his demotion and reassignment to the Border Patrol after ten years as the officer in charge of the Sacramento office was the result of racist feelings held by the former director of the INS San Francisco office, of which the Sacramento office is part. Nurse says that the San Francisco director, Thomas Schiltgen, called him “the scum of the earth.”
According to the defense, Nurse’s demotion had nothing to do with his race, but with his refusal to follow internal INS rules. The INS says that beginning in 1997, Nurse refused to follow newly issued INS directives on processing citizenship applications. The new rules were prompted by Congressional concern that the INS was naturalizing people with criminal records. Nurse claims he followed the new directive.
In his testimony, Nurse said that in 1996 he received an excellent performance review from Schiltgen. A year later, the new director of the San Francisco office, Charles DeMore, rated Nurse as only “minimally satisfactory.” He was ordered to attend naturalization processing classes. He said that after this retraining, while at a meeting of area INS officials, in which he was sitting in the last row, Schiltgen said, “Everyone seated in the rear of the auditorium is the scum of the earth.” Defense lawyers say that Schiltgen’s remarks were made in jest, and that he was only trying to get people to move toward the front of the room.
Nurse, who is still working with the Border Patrol, continues to make the same salary he did while the officer in charge in Sacramento - 0,000. He is seeking an unspecified amount of damages.
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