Jury Convicts DHS Official

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Jury Convicts Former DHS Official for Inducing Illegal Alien to Remain in U.S.

Last week, a former port director for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was convicted of inducing an illegal alien to remain in the United States. As a result of the conviction, former CBP employee Lorraine Henderson faces up to ten years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.

According to media reports and court documents, in March 2004, Henderson, who made approximately $140,000 per year as a CBP port director in the Boston-area, hired the illegal alien to clean her two-bedroom condo in Salem, MA. Several months later, Henderson referred the illegal alien to a co-worker. In December 2005, Henderson’s co-worker warned her that she thought the housekeeper was illegal, and urged Henderson to fire her. (<A href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/03/20/ex_security_official_says_she_did_not_question_housekeeper/">The Boston Globe, March 20, 2010; The Boston Globe, March 23, 2010).

Following the initial conversation with her co-worker, Henderson continued to employ the illegal alien housekeeper. In March 2008, the co-worker learned that Henderson was still employing the housekeeper, and reported the matter to her superiors. An internal affairs investigation was initiated and, in May 2008, DHS agents approached the illegal housekeeper. The housekeeper subsequently cooperated with DHS, secretly recording conversations with Henderson and gathering evidence against her, in exchange for a green card. On September 9, 2008, the housekeeper recorded a conversation between herself and Henderson. The housekeeper told Henderson that she had an immigration problem and needed Henderson’s help. Henderson offered to talk to someone to find out what options the illegal alien had, and told her, “Don’t leave . . . ‘cause once you leave, you will never come back.” Subsequently, Henderson consulted a co-worker who specialized in immigration matters and was later told that the housekeeper had to be fired. (Id.).

In December 2008, lawyers for DHS and the Department of Justice filed a complaint against Henderson in the United States District Court of the District of Massachusetts alleging that Henderson had knowingly and willfully induced an illegal alien to remain in the United States in violation of federal law. (8 U.S.C. 1324; See also Supporting Affidavit, December 4, 2008). Henderson was arrested and suspended from her job without pay. The federal court handed down an indictment against Henderson on February 3, 2009. (DOJ Press Release, February 3, 2009).

During her six-day trial earlier this month, Henderson testified that she never confronted the housekeeper after her co-worker warned her that she was an illegal alien because she “didn’t think we had the authority to ask if she was illegal.” Henderson further claimed that, after consulting the immigration specialist, she had intended to fire the housekeeper, but the housekeeper never returned. Following her conviction last week, a federal judge set Henderson’s sentencing for June 17, 2010. (The Boston Globe, March 20, 2010; The Boston Globe, March 23, 2010).