[BloodEagle]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ice-agents-sue-agency-deferred-deportations/story?id=17069319

A group of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents filed a lawsuit against their own agency Thursday, arguing that the Obama administration is not letting them fully identify and deport illegal immigrants.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano says her department does not have the manpower or money to deport the 11 million illegal immigrants in the USA, so she issued a memorandum last year ordering immigration officials to focus their efforts on dangerous illegal immigrants. In June, Obama announced a program that will allow up to 1.7 million illegal immigrants brought to the USA as children to have deportations deferred for at least two years.

The 10 ICE agents suing Napolitano and ICE Director John Morton say those directives violate the Constitution and federal immigration law. "We are federal law enforcement officers who are being ordered to break the law," said Chris Crane, an ICE agent and president of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council, a union for ICE employees. "This directive puts ICE agents and officers in a horrible position."

ICE spokesman Ross Feinstein did not comment on the lawsuit but said more than half of the nearly 400,000 illegal immigrants deported in 2011 had been convicted of crimes, the largest number in the agency's history. He said that shows the decision to focus on the most dangerous illegal immigrants is a policy that works, and June's decision to defer deportation for young illegal immigrants enhances that strategy.

[...]

I find this delicious.

[karajorma]

Well I agree with the principle that if you can't deport all the illegals you should concentrate on the ones who are actually dangerous.

But yeah, there is an irony to people suing their own agency for not being able to do their jobs.

[redsniper]

You're as coooooooold as ICE! Willing to sac-ri-fice our love!

[MP-Ryan]

Welcome to immigration enforcement in first-world democracies.  Too many loopholes, too many ways for people to skirt immigration laws and get into a country, nowhere near enough resources to find them, send them out, and keep them out.  I am so glad I found a different job where I don't have to deal with that frustration.

Though I fully agree with pursuing the most dangerous ones as a priority, and it's a little silly for them to file a lawsuit claiming they're being ordered to break the law when it fact they're being ordered to focus their resources and continue to enforce the law with the resources at their disposal.