Montana man quit state job rather than help ICE with agency subpoenas

[HipChick]

When Jordon Dyrdahl-Roberts took to Twitter Wednesday night to explain why he quit his job at the Montana Department of Labor and Industry over a request to work on a subpoena from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, he didn’t expect much attention.

Maybe just a few messages of support from friends and a few donations to help his family buy groceries for a week while he searched for new employment.One day, more than 25,400 likes, 11,300 retweets and far more financial support than he was expecting later, the Helena resident is still processing it all.

“When I put it out on Twitter, I wasn’t expecting it to get the legs it did,” he said Thursday afternoon.Dyrdahl-Roberts is quitting his job over what it would have required him to do: respond to subpoenas from ICE about Montana employers and their workers.As a legal secretary with the department since 2011, Dyrdahl-Roberts was asked this week to assist the Department of Labor and Industry in complying with recent subpoenas.

That was something he called "a step too far" for him.During a conversation Thursday afternoon, Dyrdahl-Roberts had to stop to ask what day of the week it was when running down the timeline of it all. That’s understandable given how quickly everything unfolded for him.

On Tuesday, one of the attorneys he works with said he should expect to work on some ICE subpoenas soon. It was the end of the day, Dyrdahl-Roberts said, so “the only words my brain picked up were ‘subpoenas coming.’”Wednesday morning when he went into work he clarified that the subpoenas were from ICE, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

“I immediately said, ‘I don’t think I can help with that,’” Dyrdahl-Roberts said. “I began talking with management about what the deal was, but I pretty much understood at that point.”He quickly called his wife and told her about the situation.“I said I don’t think I can be the one to assist (the department) with the subpoenas,” he said. “She said, without hesitation, she said OK.”

He's aware of how his decision and sharing it on Twitter plays into a national discussion about legal immigration and people who are in the country illegally, but said that given his location in Montana — a state he said most from somewhere else overlook — he didn't expect the spotlight.“There’s a lot going on nationally with the direction of the government as a whole that’s pretty scary for people who are plugged in and paying attention,” he said. “When I was asked to collaborate (by working on the ICE subpoena), I couldn’t.”

There are no specific immigration-related issues in his past that led him to oppose the ICE requests. But Dyrdahl-Roberts said his experience growing up "made me empathetic.”“The way I was raised led me to question authority, like asking, ‘Is this right?'" he said. He grew up believing that "just because the person in a position of authority says something doesn’t necessarily make it true.''The 2008 college grad also has a group of friends who are passionate about social justice issues.

As his 4-year-old child played in the background Thursday, Dyrdahl-Roberts said he understands the department’s legal obligation to comply with a court-ordered subpoena, but said he has a moral obligation not to.“The conversation was, ‘You understand this is part of your duties, and if you can’t execute your duties you have to quit or be fired.’ I put in my two week’s notice.”

http://helenair.com/news/government-and-politics/montana-man-quit-state-job-rather-than-help-work-on/article_bd4b4327-f19e-5c0d-9434-95fd3f5ee27e.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1

[MontanaMama]

1. Clearly this young man was raised

with an appreciation for social justice, empathy and critical thinking skills. I can't imagine better attributes to offer a child.

[Cha]

6. Well said, MontanaMama

[Thunderbeast]

2. Just returned from Democratic County Meeting.

Oregon's elected Commissioner of Labor and Industries, Brad Avakian, shared recent policy changes in his department. ICE agent's are excluded from BOLI buildings. This allows un-documented workers to have labor grievances heard by labor magistrates without threat of detention and deportation.

ELECT DEMOCRATS! IT MATTERS!

[rusty quoin]

3. Yes...big time.

[OhNo-Really]

4. May mor and more refuse to be part of hearless policies

I ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ this man's moral empathy.

[Hekate]

5. .... And so we are here...