U.S. aims to break border barriers
American put false info into computer
By ANDREA SANDS, EDMONTON SUN U.S.
immigration officials haven't wiped out false information a jailed former U.S.
border official entered into their computer alert system, says an immigration
spokesman.
And Alan Puckett, acting director of the Helena district for
the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, said he'd like to hear from
anyone whose name was improperly entered by Hector Ramirez Garcia, 44, a former
senior inspector for U.S. Immigration at the Calgary International Airport.
"If they want to come forward to our office and initiate a
request, then we can certainly check that out, and if there's no validity to any
entries keeping them out of the country, then we can clear that up," Puckett
said.
Garcia was sentenced in October to six months in jail for taking
bribes.
The court found he accepted $28,299 in 2000 and 2001 from a Red
Deer oil-servicing company, Hydro Kleen.
He then entered names of staff
from Hydro Kleen's two main competitors - Lacombe-based Eliminator Pigging
Systems and Calgary-based Innovative Coke Expulsion Inc. - into the National
Automated Immigration Lookout System.
That prevented both companies'
employees from going to the U.S. to fulfil contracts, court documents said.
Puckett said his department has no way of knowing whose names Garcia
wrongly entered into the computer. But he noted Garcia is likely to be
prosecuted in the United States when he is deported from Canada after serving
his jail time.
That investigation might provide U.S. immigration with
names it can remove from the alert system, Puckett said.
The former
owner of Eliminator said he's thrilled U.S. immigration will look into personal
complaints. Robert Brown said he's been under a five-year ban from the States
since he was first stopped in the Calgary airport on Sept. 26, "All they said
was there was something about our office in Houston, and nothing more was said,
and the more we questioned, the faster they pushed us out the door," said Brown.
"We were told to get a hold of Mr. Garcia the next day."
Brown
said his lawyer in Denver, Colorado, has been applying under freedom of
information laws in the U.S. to find out what information about him and his
staff is in the system.
But Brown hopes contacting U.S. immigration will
fix the problem more quickly.
"Not being able to go to the U.S. is a big
deal to me because I want to take my daughter to Disneyland."