ICE Agents Sue Homeland Security Over Obama Amnesty

By Frosty Wooldridge

Agents claim amnesty forces them to break federal law

Barack Obama’s executive amnesty for 1.9 million illegal alien migrants violates federal immigration laws.  Congress dictates immigration laws.  The executive branch enforces them.  For the past 30 years, the executive branch under five presidents failed to enforce America’s immigration laws. Result: in excess of 20 million illegal aliens now reside and work in America. They send $80 billion back to their own countries annually in cash transfers.

They consume $346 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars across 15 federal agencies for such items as education, ESL classes, medical care, free lunch and breakfast programs, prisons, insurance, none payment of income taxes, fraudulent Unearned Income Tax Credits and more.  (Source: Edwin Rubenstein, “True cost of illegal immigration”  www.TheSocialContract.com)

Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, www.FAIRus.org , spoke to me about federal ICE agents suing Obama over his illegal amnesty.

“A group of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents risked their jobs in order to stop the Administration’s unlawful amnesty,” said Stein.  “Ten agents, including the president of the ICE Agents and Officers Union, filed a complaint against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and ICE Director John Morton in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas. In the complaint, the agents allege the Department leaders are violating federal law by using prosecutorial discretion to grant administrative amnesty to broad classes of illegal aliens.

“The suit is a direct response to President Obama’s plan to grant amnesty to nearly 2 million illegal aliens under the age of 31. However, the June 15th announcement was just the culmination of the Administration’s expanding backdoor amnesty – implemented through administrative memos instructing ICE agents to ignore the vast majority of illegal aliens without convictions for violent crimes.”

In all, the complaint challenges the Administration’s use of prosecutorial discretion with six allegations:

• Secretary Napolitano’s June 15 directive violates federal law by prohibiting ICE from placing certain illegal aliens into removal proceedings, despite federal law requiring them to do so.
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• Napolitano’s directive violates federal laws because deferred action is a benefit which is not authorized by statute.
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• Work authorization is a benefit under federal law that cannot be granted by prosecutorial discretion.
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• The directive is a legislative act that the Administration granted through executive action, violating the U.S. Constitution’s sole grant of legislative power to Congress.
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• By granting deferred action and ignoring a large class of illegal aliens, the executive branch is violating its obligation to faithfully execute the law.
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• Granting the benefits of deferred action and work authorization to a class of illegal aliens while bypassing the formal rulemaking process violates the Administrative Procedure Act.

“Despite the lauded intent of restoring the integrity of immigration enforcement, the ICE agents may face an uphill battle,” said Stein. “The plaintiffs must prove they have suffered harm in order for the suit to move forward. In response to that requirement, the ICE agents say that they fear “they will be disciplined or suffer other adverse employment consequences” if they fail to go along with an amnesty they call unlawful.”

You may contact Dan Stein at www.FAIRus.org .  You may join FAIR and become a member with 250,000 Americans that are working for immigration reductions to sustainable levels.

Frosty Wooldridge has bicycled across six continents – from the Arctic to the South Pole – as well as eight times across the USA, coast to coast and border to border. In 2005, he bicycled from the Arctic Circle, Norway to Athens, Greece. In 2012, he bicycled coast to coast across America.  His latest book is: How to Live a Life of Adventure: The Art of Exploring the World by Frosty Wooldridge, copies at 1 888 280 7715/ Motivational program: How to Live a Life of Adventure: The Art of Exploring the World by Frosty Wooldridge, click:

www.HowToLiveALifeOfAdventure.com