WASHINGTON — As the Justice Department continues to release thousands of e-mails and documents, it is becoming increasingly clear that officials in Washington and top prosecutors in the field were often sharply at odds over one of President Bush's law enforcement priorities: how best to police the Southwest's porous border with Mexico.
Three of the eight U.S. attorneys fired last year were stationed in border-sensitive areas: San Diego, Phoenix and Albuquerque. Although praised in their job evaluations, the three were singled out for termination, partly because they could not slow the tide of illegal immigration and border crimes.
But the documents, released in response to congressional demands, also show that the U.S. attorneys complained Washington was not providing enough resources to fight immigration and drug crimes.
Carol C. Lam, the U.S. attorney in San Diego, said she had to turn a deaf ear to smuggling cases in order to prosecute illegal immigrants accused of more-violent crimes.
She was praised in job evaluations but heavily criticized in e-mails and other documents at Justice Department headquarters.
"Lam is an effective manager ... and a respected leader," officials in Washington wrote this year in a summary of her performance. But in Department of Justice documents marked "for internal DOJ use only," she was criticized for trying only a "fraction" of the immigration cases seen in other border districts.
Paul Charlton, the U.S. attorney in Phoenix, said he had been forced to nearly stop prosecuting marijuana arrests of less than 500 pounds because he didn't have the resources to try the cases.
Although job evaluations complimented his "integrity, professionalism and competence," Justice Department officials were not happy that he took his complaints about resources to Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.).
"Oh dear," Natalie Voris, associate counsel in the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, reacted in an e-mail.
In New Mexico, U.S. Atty. David C. Iglesias was praised in his evaluation as a leader who was "experienced in legal, management and community relations work, and is respected by the judiciary, agencies and staff."
Privately, Washington complained of his "critically important border district being underserved."
In congressional testimony this year, neither Lam, Charlton nor Iglesias said they had any inkling that Washington was displeased with their work. They said they were troubled when the administration said they were fired because of poor performances.
