BORDER INSPECTORS FACE CONSTANT TEMPTATION

The inspectors in the booths at Nogales aren't tense just because of
traffic jams. Temptation also troubles them, Immigration and
Naturalization Service official Stephen Fickett said.

``There is constant pressure on our employees to take bribes. They are
always being subjected to the possibility of being blackmailed,'' said
Fickett, deputy director of the INS' Phoenix office.

While Fickett insists the vast majority of INS employees are
law-abiding, he and others acknowledge the temptation is great.

One drug trafficker on the California border offered an INS employee
$45,000 for a permanent residency card last year, said T.J. Bondurant,
the assistant inspector general for investigations. For an inspector
who makes a base salary of $23,000 the first year, that's a huge temptation.

A retired Drug Enforcement Administration official, Phil Jordan, said
corruption is a ``necessary ingredient'' for smuggling drugs across
the Mexican border.

``It's part of the master plan that the cartels have,'' said Jordan,
former director of the DEA's El Paso Intelligence Center.

The Office of the Inspector General, which investigates wrongdoing
within the Justice Department, investigates many corruption
allegations each year along the Mexican border, Bondurant said.

In the past five years, OIG agents along the border have arrested 18
INS employees charged with drug-related corruption. Twenty-seven more
were arrested for alleged corruption related to immigration documents.

In a task-force effort along the California border, federal
prosecutors indicted seven allegedly corrupt agents in 1995 and 1996.

Bondurant said his office is concerned about the increasing number of
Justice Department hires along the border.

``You have a large influx of inexperienced people assuming very
responsible positions along the border,'' he said. ``That makes them
more vulnerable.''

That is more true of the Border Patrol, which is increasing by 1,000
agents per year nationally, than of the INS. The number of immigration
inspectors along the Arizona border more than doubled in 1996, from
102 to 208. But in the two years since, their number has grown only by
eight to 216.

New inspectors earn about $23,000 per year but often make $10,000 or
more in overtime pay, said INS spokesman Bill Strassberger. The base
salary may increase by $5,000 the next year.

To get the job, applicants must either have a bachelor's degree or a
high school diploma and three years' work experience. They must take
an aptitude test, then, if selected, go through a background
investigation.

The investigator talks to neighbors, checks fingerprints, and reviews
credit histories and work experiences. Then, after a medical exam, the
applicant attends an 18-week training course in Glynco, Ga.

Fickett is confident the INS' hiring practices root out potentially
corrupt inspectors, partly because hiring was centralized in one
office four years ago.

``In the recent hiring push that we've made, I don't think we've cut
any corners. In fact, if anything, in the last four years the
integrity of the hiring process has improved,'' Fickett said.

All four Nogales inspectors indicted yesterday have at least five
years' experience, and one has about 19. That inspector, Maria de los
Angeles Alabado, is paid a salary of $47,951 per year.

Colleague Rafael Landa, with five years' experience, makes $35,228 per
year. Inspector Robert Ronquillo, with eight years' experience, is

paid $36,329 per year.

No salary information was available for Jesus A. Corella, who resigned
in October 1996, about four months after allegedly receiving a $75,000
cash payment from drug traffickers.

[SIDEBAR: CORRUPTION ON THE BORDER

* Gary P. Callahan, a Border Patrol agent based in Bisbee, was
convicted of skimming cocaine from loads he helped seize, then
reselling it, beginning in 1988. After fleeing to New Zealand, he was
extradited, tried and sentenced to 27 1/2 years in prison in May 1993.

Rodolfo ``Rudy'' Molina Jr. conspired to import 1,100 pounds of
cocaine in 1990 and 1991, while working as an Immigration and
Naturalization Service inspector. He was sentenced to 30 years, five
months in prison, in February 1992.

* Donald L. Simpson took part in the same 1990-91 cocaine conspiracy
with Molina while working as a U.S. Customs Service inspector in
Douglas. He was sentenced to life in prison, also in February 1992.

* Ronald M. Backues, a Border Patrol agent based in Douglas, admitted
trafficking marijuana in 1990 and 1991 but was acquitted of
cocaine-related charges. He was sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison in
October 1992.

* Jesus B. Pacheco, a U.S. Customs Service inspector in Douglas,
allowed a marijuana-laden pickup truck to pass through his inspection
station in July 1992 in return for a promised payment of $4,000. He
was sentenced to 5 2/3 years in prison in July 1993.

* Jesus B. Teran, an INS inspector at Douglas, conspired to distribute
narcotics in 1992. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1995.

* Jorge L. Mancha, a Border Patrol agent based in Douglas, conspired
to import cocaine and marijuana from 1992 to 1995. He was also
convicted of money laundering. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

* Francisco G. Haro, a Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department deputy,
transported cocaine in his patrol car in 1996 and 1997. He was
convicted of drug and corruption charges and was sentenced to 11 years
in prison in September 1997.]