‘Blacking up’ gag leaves Myers red-faced

Julie Myers, the Bush administration's top immigration official, is finding out the hard way that dressing up in 'blackface' is a big no-no. As director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, she awarded top prize for costume at her Halloween office party to a staffer got up in dreadlocks and blackened face, wearing a prison-stripe outfit and dragging a ball and chain. Talk about type-casting.

The gaffe looks set to cost Myers her job heading up the immigration enforcement agency at the Department of Homeland Security, created after 9/11.

Myers, daughter of former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Richard Myers, was given the job by President Bush in an acting capacity while she awaits Senate confirmation hearings. That's suddenly looking unlikely.

"Our nation's immigration enforcement agency needs non-controversial leadership," says Senator Kit Bond, Republican of Missouri. "That would best be served by going in a different direction with this nomination."

The Senate has just confirmed Bush's new Attorney General, Michael Mukasey, despite his refusal to acknowledge 'waterboarding' as torture. 'Blackface' seems to be in an altogether different category of outrage. ·