ICE Agents–With Anti-Immigrant Group’s Help–Sue DHS

Aug 23, 2012

Ten officers and agents for United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) including ICE Agents Union President Chris Crane, today filed a lawsuit against Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton challenging the Obama Administration’s deferred action Directive. The lawsuit alleges the deferred action program will prevent ICE officers, employees, and agents from "fulfilling their sworn oath to uphold the law and defend the US Constitution." "Both the Directive and memorandum command our agents to violate federal law and our oaths to uphold federal law. We are federal law enforcement officers who are being ordered to break the law. This directive puts ICE agents and officers in a horrible position," Chris Crane, veteran ICE agent and President of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council, said in a press release sent by anti-immigrant group NumbersUSA. "The Directive is an extension of the DREAM Act, which was rejected by Congress, and aims to grant an amnesty to 1.7 million illegal aliens. It violates federal immigration laws that require certain aliens to be placed in removal proceedings, it violates the Administrative Procedure Act, and it encroaches upon the legislative powers of Congress as defined in Article I of the United States Constitution," said Kris Kobach, the attorney representing the plaintiffs. Kobach is the Secretary of State of Kansas and currently of counsel with the Immigration Law Reform Institute, the legal arm of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR.) "FAIR is committed to ending immigration outright and creating conditions so unlivable that immigrants self deport," [Seth Wessler, Colorlines.com’s investigative reporter wrote in 2010.](https://colorlines.com/archives/2010/06/mapping_the_nationwide_spread_of_arizonas_sb_1070.html) FAIR is also largely responsible for anti-immigrant laws in a majority of the states where legislation similar to SB1070 has been proposed or discussed. The leading lawmakers behind the bills are associated with FAIR’s legislative arm, a group called State Legislators for Legal Immigration (SLLI) that[ operates in at least 35 states.](https://colorlines.com/archives/2010/05/the_farright_movement_behind_arizona_copycat_bills.html)