Report criticizes immigration chief for Halloween party

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A report criticizes a top immigration official for attempting to conceal her role in a controversial Halloween costume party.

Julie Myers, then-acting chief of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and two subordinates were cited in the report by Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee for exercising "poor judgment" by giving an award at the party to an employee wearing prison stripes, a dreadlocks wig and face-darkening make-up.

The report, released Tuesday, also criticizes Myers for ordering her staff to delete digital photographs of Myers with the costumed man, saying her actions "appeared to be an attempt to conceal her actions from public disclosure."

The report discloses for the first time that ICE learned on Nov. 8 -- a week after the party -- that the deleted photographs could be electronically restored.

That was the same day Myers met with Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi, to discuss the incident, but Myers "was not fully forthcoming" about the photographs, the report says. Myers did not tell Thompson about deleting the photographs, nor did she tell him in subsequent communications that the deleted photographs could be recovered, a Thompson aide said.

It was only in early February, six weeks after Myers was confirmed by the Senate as the official head of ICE, that the agency released the restored photos in response to a CNN Freedom of Information request.

"If you felt that you were on thin ice to begin with, you wouldn't want anything to cause that ice to crack, and that gives you an incentive to participate in what some may see as a coverup," said one Democratic committee staffer, who declined to be named because she was not authorized to speak.

The report calls on the Department of Homeland Security, ICE's parent agency, to conduct a full investigation into any actions taken by ICE officials leading to "the concealment of this incident." It also asks that an independent official be appointed to determine if any laws were violated.

ICE spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said Myers took "full responsibility" for the incident. "She apologized. She took corrective action to address it," Nantel said. "We had informed the employees long before this made it into the press."

She said after the Department of Homeland Security started an internal investigation into the incident, Myers "removed herself completely" from any day-to-day involvement in the case and was told the photos were recovered "probably a couple of days" before they were released.

Nantel said it is "fundamentally unfair" to suggest Myers delayed release of the photos to protect her Senate confirmation.

The Halloween-day costume party was held at ICE headquarters in Washington. The House staff report says the employee with the prison costume arrived at work that morning and "was seen by co-workers, managers, and senior level ICE officials while he went about his duties."

When the employee showed up at the afternoon party, "several employees were shocked and offended by the costume; some even left immediately after seeing the disguise," the report says. The costume "caused grave concern and distress, especially for the African-Americans that were present," it says.

When the costumed employee arrived at the judge's table, he told the judges, which included Myers, "I'm a Jamaican detainee from Krome (a detention center in Miami, Florida), obviously, I've escaped," the report says.

"The response from the judges was laughter. Not one of the judges expressed concern over the costume or its racial overtones," the report says.

Myers has said that immediately after posing for photos with the employee, she reconsidered the propriety of the award and ordered the photos destroyed, sending a letter of apology to employees.

A week after the party, Myers said she ordered the photos deleted because she "had made an error in judgment" and did not want the photos to appear in departmental publications. "I did not think that recognizing an escaped prisoner in any way was beneficial to the agency's goal of treating everyone in our custody with dignity and respect."

Myers depicted her contact with the costumed man as fleeting. "I had very limited interaction with this individual," she wrote. "This individual was present at the (judging) table for less then half a minute before he moved on."

The incident spawned an internal investigation by the civil rights office of DHS.

The House report recommends DHS release the results of that investigation. E-mail to a friend

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