As soon as Donald Trump took office, he made it loud and clear that he was going to go bigly on immigration enforcement. Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, demanded a daily quota of 3,000 immigration-related arrests.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have increased their social media activity. They have switched from posting occasional public service messages to posting arrest numbers and dire warnings of the consequences of illegal entry or overstay on a daily basis. Watching the videos posted on ICE’s social media accounts is like watching an episode of “Cops.”
And unlike other government agencies which are getting staff and budget cuts, the Department of Homeland Security is getting $165 billion of additional funding thanks to the recent passage of the Big, Beautiful Bill. The funding will be used to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, build new detention centers, and post enough social media clickbait to make BuzzFeed jealous.
While some at the DHS and ICE have welcomed the more aggressive attitude and increased funding, others — including some of its own employees — feel they are overstepping their bounds.
An article from the Atlantic featured dismayed ICE employees, including a 33-year-old attorney who resigned from ICE’s legal department. He left because he thought ICE’s mission was no longer about protecting the homeland from threats. It became a contest of how many deportations could be reported to Miller. He saw frustration among ICE attorneys whose cases were dismissed just so officer teams could grab their clients in the hallways for fast-track deportations that pad the arrest numbers. The hallway arrests sent the message that the immigration courts were just a convenient place to handcuff people.
He finally said that there are some ICE attorneys who plan to resign once their student loans are forgiven.
For people like the ICE attorneys mentioned above who feel stuck at their jobs, they have options. This assumes that they are enrolled in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.
First, unless President Trump is somehow able to transfer his consciousness into his successor’s big, beautiful body, his final term will end in 2029. Can people hold out for another three and a half years?
Also, there is the moral dilemma. Some people may not like switching from investigating and prosecuting drug traffickers to going after the guy selling trinkets on a freeway off-ramp. Or they don’t want to help Miller achieve his daily arrest quota. Can these people approach a sympathetic supervisor and ask to be reassigned to other duties that do not go against their personal morals?
Lastly, if someone must quit, it may not affect their PSLF status. While PSLF requires 120 qualifying monthly payments before forgiveness, the federal government states that the payments do not need to be consecutive. For example, if you have a period of employment with a nonqualifying employer, you will not lose the payment counts for prior qualifying payments you made.
And for those in law school or contemplating law school, this should serve as a warning if you are planning to max out your student loans and PSLF them away. If you leave with a very large loan balance, you will have little flexibility other than sticking with government or public service jobs. So borrow only the amount you need for the bare necessities.
A government employee with large student loan balance may not like a new administration’s policies. But so long as they are familiar with the PSLF rules, and have a plan, they may not have to put up with them.
Steven Chung is a tax attorney in Los Angeles, California. He helps people with basic tax planning and resolve tax disputes. He is also sympathetic to people with large student loans. He can be reached via email at stevenchungatl@gmail.com. Or you can connect with him on Twitter (@stevenchung) and connect with him on LinkedIn.
The post ICE Attorney Hates His Job But Cannot Quit Until His Student Loans Are Forgiven appeared first on Above the Law.