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ICE Lawyer Paid $399,999 to Settle Lawsuit Against DHS: Vroom v. Johnson

September 02, 2015 (1 min read)

Julia Preston, New York Times, Aug. 29, 2015 - "The Department of Homeland Security has reached a settlement with the top lawyer in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in Arizona, who sued the department in 2014 claiming discrimination. The lawyer, Patricia M. Vroom, said she was bullied and harassed by officials in Washington because she raised concerns about an Obama administration policy applying prosecutorial discretion to spare some immigrants from deportation. Ms. Vroom will be paid $399,999 to end the suit, and a recent annual performance rating will be revised upward to “achieved excellence.” She had said top legal officials lowered her rating after she moved cautiously to allow the release of some undocumented immigrants with criminal records, a rebuke she said amounted to age and sex discrimination. Her lawyer said that as part of the agreement, Ms. Vroom would retire on Oct. 1 after 30 years working for the federal government. Homeland Security officials did not admit wrongdoing."