THE BORDER REPORT

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has picked its successor to the woes of illegal immigration in Arizona, Matt Allen, a former chief for the agency's Nogales office, sources confirmed today. Allen, a former assistant special agent in charge in the Nogales office, will take over ICE in Arizona in the next few days, though the agency hasn't announced anything publicly. He replaces Alonzo Peña, who was nearly on his way out the door as soon he got here. Peña held the position for a little more than a year. Allen makes seven or eight customs jefes in charge of Arizona since ICE was created in 2003. It is not a popular job; this state remains the number one corridor for migrant smuggling and, poundage-wise, drug trafficking along the border. I'm hearing good things about Allen and that's a very good thing for ICE, an agency that's been treated a bit like the office bicycle since it was formed a little less than five years ago under the Homeland Security Department. The agency lost its investigative edge and turned to migrant smuggling cases instead over the past couple years. This displeased many ICE investigators who felt their skills were being squandered on Phoenix drop-house cases instead of serious investigation. Drop house cases are good for building stats but if you notice, they're not so good for cracking migrant smuggling rings. And they were only doing that because the detention and removal office was refusing to hold migrants arrested by ICE (is that enough Fed jargon for you?) "He has a reputation for looking out for his people, I think he's going to be good," my source says. "Then again, I've been wrong in the past." He's fared better than ICE's number two man Jonathan P. Clark (you can read his bio here), the deputy assistant secretary for operations in Washington D.C. Clark held the number two spot to Julie Meyers, the top ICE jefe (you may remember her from that stupid Halloween costume contest last year). Meyers apparently sent out an e-mail to ICE employees today announcing Clark's resignation; though some agents are questioning whether he was retired because of his age or because of some internal disputes within ICE. Clark is apparently heading off to a high-level spot in some Fortune 500 company. It's curious; apparently he resigned Feb. 15 but it was only today that Meyer's sent out an email to ICE employees telling them of his resignation. I remember Clark as a key figure in the return of the Shadow Wolves to the customs agency after they were relegated to Customs and Border Protection. It was a bit inside baseball, but basically, the Wolves felt they were demeaned when they were pushed out of ICE and into border protection. I'll keep you posted.

-- Michel Marizco