News Releases
“Not only do the President’s statements
[threatening ‘consequences’ against immigration officers] ignore the
plain language of several immigration statutes that command DHS
personnel to take certain actions relating to illegal aliens, the
comments seem to comport with a pattern and practice of threats toward
DHS personnel who seek to fulfill their duties under the law.”
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff
Sessions (R-AL), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration and the
National Interest, joined with all Republican members of the
Subcommittee in sending a letter today to Homeland Security Secretary
Jeh Johnson regarding potential retaliation against DHS personnel who
attempt to uphold their oaths of office by enforcing the nation’s
immigration laws. Text of the letter follows:
“Dear Secretary Johnson: We write regarding potential retaliation against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel for upholding their oaths of office and faithfully discharging the duties of the offices in which they serve.
On February 25, 2015, during a MSNBC/Telemundo town hall discussion at Florida International University in Miami, President Obama said:
“There may be individual [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)] officials or Border Patrol who aren’t paying attention to our new directives. But they’re going to be answerable to the head of the Department of Homeland Security, because he’s been very clear about what our priorities should be… If somebody is working for ICE and there is a policy and they don’t follow the policy, there are going to be consequences to it.”
Not only do the President’s statements ignore the plain language of several immigration statutes that command DHS personnel to take certain actions relating to illegal aliens, the comments seem to comport with a pattern and practice of threats toward DHS personnel who seek to fulfill their duties under the law. Such statements also illustrate why morale levels among DHS personnel continue to remain near the bottom of all federal entities.
Indeed, we are aware of multiple allegations of targeting and retaliation against DHS personnel who refuse to comply with this Administration’s willful disregard of our immigration laws—such as allegations made in lawsuits filed in federal court by an award-winning ICE attorney and by a group of 10 ICE officers and agents. President of the National ICE Council Chris Crane has said that agency leadership is “punishing law enforcement officers who are just trying to uphold U.S. law,” and is “willing to take away their retirement, their job, their ability to support their families in favor of someone who is here illegally and violating our laws . . . either taking a disciplinary action [or] threat[ening] disciplinary action.” Earlier this month, Vice President of the National Border Patrol Council (Local 3307) Chris Cabrera testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that:
“[Border Patrol] agents who repeatedly report groups [of aliens] larger than 20 face retribution. Management will either take them out of the field and assign them to processing detainees at the station or assign them to a fixed position in low volume areas as punishment. Needless to say agents got the message and now stay below this 20 person threshold no matter the actual size of the group.”
Due to our concerns regarding the potential mistreatment of DHS personnel, we request the following information:
- Please provide the number of employees the Department disciplined
over the last six years, including through the issuance of an adverse
annual review, relating in any way to the alleged refusal of those
employees to comply with the Department’s administratively-created
enforcement priorities—to include, but not limited to, the refusal to
exercise prosecutorial discretion in any manner, or the reporting of
large groups of aliens apprehended after crossing the border.
- Please break down the data by Department component, by the employee’s employing office within each component, and provide a description of the nature and severity of the discipline imposed on each employee.
- Please provide the current employment status of each employee who
was disciplined, including whether the Department terminated that
employee subsequent to the discipline; whether the employee is currently
employed, but reassigned to a different position subsequent to the
discipline; whether the employee is currently employed in the same
position as the employee was in before the discipline; and a brief
description of any employee who does not fall within one of the
above-referenced categories.
- Please provide statistics regarding the number of lawsuits or
complaints filed by Department personnel, or former Department
personnel, against the Department over the last six years relating in
any way to the alleged refusal of those employees to follow the
Department’s administratively-created enforcement priorities—to include,
but not limited to, refusal to exercise prosecutorial discretion in any
manner. Please describe the general nature of each lawsuit or
complaint, the status of the lawsuit or complaint, and the ultimate
outcome of any lawsuit or complaint that is not currently pending.
Please break down the data by Department component and by the employee’s
employing office within the component.
- Please provide any written guidance, or a description of any oral
guidance, issued to Department personnel pertaining to the potential
discipline of employees who refuse to comply with the Department’s
administratively-created enforcement priorities—to include, but not
limited to, the refusal to exercise prosecutorial discretion in any
manner.
- Please describe the authority upon which your Department will rely to penalize Department personnel for their failure to comply with an unlawful and unconstitutional order.
Sincerely,
Jeff Sessions
Chairman, Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest
David Vitter
Deputy Chairman, Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest
David Perdue
U.S. Senator
Charles E. Grassley
Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary
John Cornyn
U.S. Senator
Mike Lee
U.S. Senator
Ted Cruz
U.S. Senator
Thom Tillis
U.S. Senator”
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