Judge hears argument in ICE agents’ lawsuit over DACA

By Jill Replogle, KPBS News for Fronteras

SAN DIEGO – A federal judge in Dallas heard arguments Monday in a lawsuit filed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.  They want to block the Obama administration’s new policy of allowing certain young people brought into the country illegally by their parents to avoid deportation.

The ICE agents filed suit last year against Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and other top immigration authorities, after the administration announced its Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, policy.

The policy came with a directive to ICE officers to refrain from detaining or deporting young people who may qualify under the policy to remain in the country and get a work permit.

The ten agents who filed the lawsuit allege that complying with the policy requires them to violate federal law and therefore violate their oaths to uphold federal law.  They also allege that if they disobey the new policy, they risk getting sanctioned or fired.

Judge Reed O’Conner heard arguments in the case on Monday and will make a ruling soon on whether to grant a preliminary injunction.

The plaintiffs include the head of the San Diego ICE agents union and four agents from the El Paso sector.