Federal Reports

Although the Imperial Regional Detention Facility (IRDF) generally complied with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention standards regarding classification of detainees according to risk, it did not meet the standards for segregation, facility condition, medical grievances, and detainee communication. We determined detainees were held in administrative segregation for prolonged periods of 22-23 hours per day, including two detainees who had been held in isolation for more than 300 days. We also determined that parts of the facility were in poor condition, medical checks were insufficient to ensure proper detainee care, medical grievances and responses were not properly documented, and ICE communication with detainees was limited. Until ICE takes corrective action to address these violations of detention standards, the facility will be unable to ensure an environment that protects the health, safety, and rights of detainees. We made six recommendations to ICE’s Executive Associate Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) to ensure the San Diego ERO Field Office overseeing IRDF addresses identified issues and ensures facility compliance with relevant detention standards. ICE concurred with all six recommendations and is implementing a corrective action plan to address the concerns identified.

The Postal Service operates and maintains one of the world’s largest computer networks, linking more than 31,000 retail locations and making communication possible among hundreds of thousands of employees. The Postal Service processes more than 146 billion mailpieces annually and delivers nearly half of the world’s mail. To do this, the Postal Service relies on about 86,000 network devices that support the Information Technology (IT) and mail processing infrastructures. Our objective was to determine if the U.S. Postal Service’s network performance is optimized to support infrastructure demands and ensure system availability.

From the beginning of the Medicare program, beneficiaries' Medicare cards displayed Social Security numbers (SSNs), which increased beneficiaries' vulnerability to identity theft. To meet the requirements of a 2015 Federal law, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) generated new randomized insurance numbers, called Medicare Beneficiary Identifiers (MBIs), to replace SSNs on Medicare cards; assigned the MBIs to beneficiaries; and mailed new Medicare cards. Because deficiencies in assigning MBIs and mailing new Medicare cards could have resulted in unintended consequences, such as claim processing errors and inappropriate release of personally identifiable information, we evaluated CMS's internal controls over implementation of the new MBIs.

Ryan Taylor Minter, of Calumet City, Illinois, pleaded guilty in the Central District of Illinois to charges of wire fraud on December 20, 2019.Our investigation found that Minter participated in a scheme to defraud Amtrak and others by using stolen credit card information from at least 216 different credit or debit cards to purchase Amtrak tickets online valued at over $29,000. Minter used Amtrak’s mobile application and website to purchase the tickets and then advertised them at a discounted price on social media sites frequented by college students. As part of the plea agreement, Minter has agreed to pay restitution if so ordered by the court.Minter was previously indicted on 5 counts of wire fraud and was arrested on July 1, 2019. Minter will be sentenced at a future date.