A former government lawyer who went viral for voicing frustration in court with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is setting her eyes on a new workplace: Congress.
Julie T. Le, who recently served on a detail representing the US attorney’s office in Minnesota, has launched a Congressional campaign website. The campaign site doesn’t specify the district in which she plans to run, though says she is running as a Democrat and plans to hold a campaign launch event in Brooklyn Park, Minn. on March 14.
Le said in an interview with the Washington Post, which first reported on her plans, that she’s planning to run against incumbent Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn). Le’s kickoff event is located in the congressional district represented by Rep. Kelly Morrison (D), and the online address for Le’s campaign headquarters is within the district served by Rep. Angie Craig (D).
Le didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Le, described on her campaign website as a former assistant chief counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, plans to focus her campaign on fighting for “humane, sensible immigration policies that fair and just that aligns with American values and embraces the humanity of immigrants,” according to the website.
Le “has witnessed firsthand the complexities of our immigration and legal systems. She knows firsthand how broken they are — and the reforms needed to improve them,” the website said.
The career move comes just over a month after Le made headlines for saying “the system sucks, this job sucks,” in response to a federal judge’s questions on situations where courts have found ICE violated court orders in migrants’ cases. The Justice Department removed Le from the detail with the US attorney’s office within a day of the incident, a person familiar with the matter confirmed at the time.
Le’s unusual remarks came during a hearing on habeas petitions from immigrants detained by ICE from the Trump administration’s crackdown of undocumented migrants in Minnesota. US attorney’s offices there and in other cities targeted by the administration have struggled to keep up with the cases, with several bringing on military lawyers and attorneys from other agencies to help address the workload.
Le, who immigrated to the US from Vietnam in 1993, is also planning to campaign on goals of increasing education funding and improving health-care affordability, according to her website.
A Bloomberg Law review of federal campaign finance records indicated Le has yet to submit an official campaign filing as of Wednesday afternoon.
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