Montana state employee goes viral for quitting over work on ICE subpoena

A Montana state government employee has gone viral after he tweeted about quitting his job over being asked to help process a subpoena for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.

Jordon Dyrdahl-Roberts tweeted Wednesday that he had quit his job at the Montana Department of Labor and Industry after being asked to respond to ICE subpoenas about Montana workers as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

“I put in my two weeks notice. I work at Montana Department of Labor. There were going to be ICE subpoenas for information that would end up being used to hunt down & deport undocumented workers,” Dyrdahl-Roberts tweeted.

So, yeah, about that.

I put in my two weeks notice.

I work at Montana Department of Labor.

There were going to be ICE subpoenas for information that would end up being used to hunt down & deport undocumented workers. https://t.co/TqBBjPDmNa

— Jordon Dyrdahl-Roberts (@dyrbert) February 8, 2018 

It would have been my responsibility to prepare the information and hand them off to ICE.

I refuse to aid in the breaking up of families. I refuse to just “follow orders.”

This isn’t an easy decision as it puts me in a delicate financial position.

— Jordon Dyrdahl-Roberts (@dyrbert) February 8, 2018

He tweeted that he was quitting the job because “I want to be able to look my child in [the] eye.”

“I’m drawing my line in the sand here. Cooperation with this regime is not acceptable,” he added.

People have asked why am I doing this if I have a child.

I’m doing this because I have a child.

I want to be able to look my child in eye.

— Jordon Dyrdahl-Roberts (@dyrbert) February 8, 2018 

So many people are waiting on the 2018 elections, but many people being targeted by this administration don’t have that long.

I’m drawing my line in the sand here. Cooperation with this regime is not acceptable.

— Jordon Dyrdahl-Roberts (@dyrbert) February 8, 2018

Dyrdahl-Roberts also tweeted a link to his PayPal after he said that some were asking for a way to help him financially. A GoFundMe on his behalf, titled “Said No To Ice,” has also been started.

He told the Independent Record that he called his wife and told her about the situation after realizing he was being asked to process the ICE subpoena and that she agreed with his decision “without hesitation.”

“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, I couldn’t.”

Dyrdahl-Roberts didn’t say how much money he had received since his tweets, but that enough had been donated to cover costs while he searches for a new job.

The Montana Department of Labor told the Record that Dyrdahl-Roberts “understood that such processing was a required part of his job” and that he was offered help in finding another position at the department.

Dyrdahl-Roberts’s resignation comes amid an immigration crackdown by the Trump administration. Immigration groups sued ICE on Friday for allegedly targeting immigration activists, and top officials have threatened to pull federal funds from so-called sanctuary cities if they continue to not cooperate with federal immigration authorities.