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A longtime federal immigration attorney claims Immigration and Customs Enforcement managers mounted a campaign of “humiliation” and “brutal scape-goating” to purge officials they didn’t want, raising concerns from a top GOP lawmaker that the administration was trying to “force compliance” with its controversial policies.

The attorney, Patricia Vroom, made the allegations in a lawsuit filed last month. The lawsuit is getting renewed attention in the wake of President Obama’s executive actions to let potentially millions of illegal immigrants stay in the country and work.

In the suit, Vroom claimed she was rebuked for her “push-back” on a prior effort to drop cases against illegal immigrants with identity theft convictions, and received a low performance rating at the time.

“It was part of an orchestrated, coordinated effort … to purge [the ICE Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, OPLA] of senior Chief Counsel so that much younger, much less experienced, and thus much more impressionable individuals who were beholden to them, could be installed in their place,” the lawsuit alleges.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., cited the lawsuit in a letter on Monday to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and the acting ICE director. He said the suit shows the administration “bullied career lawyers” to “force compliance” with its policies, and ultimately replace them with “favored individuals.”

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