All summer, citizens have been crying out, 'Why doesn't somebody take this to court!' over Janet Napolitano's Dream amnesty directive. THIS MORNING, ICE AGENTS DID . . . with the promise of help from NumbersUSA members! In the last hour, a group of 10 federal immigration-enforcement agents -- including the president of the agents' union -- filed suit against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and ICE Director John Morton. The suit seeks an injunction against Napolitano's June 15 directive that includes issuing work permits to a whole class of illegal aliens, estimated at 1.7 million, under the age of 31. The 10 agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) section of DHS contend that the directive for the amnesty that DHS began to hand out on Aug. 15 is "unlawful and unconstitutional." Kris Kobach, the nation's best-known immigration litigator, is leading the agents' legal team. Chris Crane, president of the ICE Agents' Union, AGFE Council #119, is the public spokesman for the plaintiffs. NumbersUSA, the nation's largest pro-enforcement grassroots organization, is underwriting the suit, based on the expectation of raising the necessary funds from our 1.3 million on-line activists. The suit was filed this morning in Dallas, in the federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas, which is in the 5th Circuit. (The majority of the ICE agent plaintiffs, including one in Dallas, reside and work in Texas.) The court action comes just one week after the ICE agents' union courageously set up an on-line petition to protest their bosses' orders to violate U.S. immigration laws (find the link in the box below). What is at stake for ICE agents is stated plainly in the lawsuit: This lawsuit seeks to prevent law enforcement officer Plaintiffs from being forced to either violate federal law if they comply with the unlawful Directive or risk adverse employment action if they disobey the unlawful orders of the DHS Secretary. This lawsuit also seeks to preserve the balance of legislative and executive powers established by the United States Constitution.
Actions You Can Take | LEGAL TEAM TO BE FUNDED ENTIRELY BY NUMBERSUSA MEMBER CONTRIBUTIONS ACTION 1: Be sure you and all of your friends sign the petition to ICE Director John Morton to show DHS that you support the ICE agents whose union has been urging that they be allowed to enforce the immigration laws passed by Congress: ACTION 2: You'll want to go to your NumbersUSA Action Board and send new faxes to your 3 Members of Congress that we've just now posted there. Tell them about the lawsuit and ask them to issue public statements showing their own support for protecting ICE agents' ability to enforce immigration laws without fear of disciplinary action and firing. (Some Senators and Representatives already have released statements of support. Their names won't show up on your fax.) ACTION 3: Think about every time you blew a fuse this summer upon hearing about the Administration's decision to go around Congress and just order an amnesty on its own. At those times, would you have been willing to send a $10, $20, $50 or $100 donation to anybody willing to stand up and challenge the legality in court? When we saw the ICE agents' union in July publicly protesting Napolitano's amnesty order, we felt on the basis of hearing our members pleading all summer for somebody to take the order to court that we could -- and should -- step out on faith. We pledged the financial support that was needed for the agents to file its suit effectively and expeditiously -- and take it through the court system as far as it can go. We did this even though we had no money for such an action in our budget. But users of NumbersUSA's activist tools have stepped up to finance every major anti-amnesty effort we've mounted (AND WON) in the past. All of you together have always been a citizen movement at its finest. Please click on the red button to find the many ways you can make your tax-deductible contribution. |
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WAGES & LIVELIHOODS OF AMERICAN WORKERS DEPEND ON ICE AGENTS WHO ARE ENFORCING IMMIGRATION LAWS We have argued since Napolitano's amnesty order on June 15 that adding 1.7 million illegal aliens to the legal work force -- especially without offsetting cuts in green card programs and without passage of mandatory E-Verify to stop most future illegal immigration -- is an assault on the 20 million Americans who want a full-time job but can't find one. But by tying the hands of ICE agents, the directive poses an even greater threat to American workers because it sends a signal to millions more workers worldwide that it may be worth taking the risks to become an illegal alien in this country. Polling indicates hundreds of millions of workers around the world who say they would like to seek a job in the U.S. What keeps most of them from coming illegally to compete for jobs? Every year, some 45 million foreigners visit the U.S. on short-term visas. What keeps most of them from over-staying their visas and competing for jobs? The answer to both questions is that most of those millions of foreign workers stay home or go back home because they expect that U.S. immigration officials will enforce U.S. immigration laws. The Napolitano directive sends a global message to expect something different. Here is my statement just sent in a press release to the nation's news media: Any threat of harm to our nation's immigration officers for enforcing the law is a threat against the livelihoods of average American workers.Congress passes laws to determine how many and which citizens of other countries are allowed to enter U.S. job markets to compete with American workers. Fortunately during this long period of high unemployment, Congress has refused to add further competition through amnesties that would give millions of illegal aliens access to the legal U.S. job market. But the Napolitano amnesty directive does the opposite. If immigration agents are not allowed to enforce the laws as decided by Congress, the wages and jobs of American workers are at risk.
You can read the press release at this link. Read the entire Complaint filed in court today at this link. Our home page is full of background information and will continually post the latest breaking news surrounding this bold action by ICE agents on behalf of them and their fellow officers and for the benefit of the American people. We'll also be sending you email updates. THANKS FOR SUPPORTING THE AGENTS WITH AS MANY OF THE ABOVE ACTIONS AS POSSIBLE, | 
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