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
[email protected].
Or
you
can
connect
with
him
on
Twitter
(@stevenchung)
and
connect
with
him
on LinkedIn.