The head of the Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice resigned after he was not willing to accept a forced transfer by Trump administration officials who wanted him to work in immigration.
The boss, Corey Amundson, was informed of his reallocation in recent days. Mr. Amundson was one of the many senior officials of his career said he was being sent to work in a working group focused on the Sanctuary cities, jurisdictions that are expected to be reluctant to comply with the administration officials trying to increase deportations and immigration arrests.
In his renunciation letter, which was obtained by the New York Times, Mr. Amundson reported the many significant corruption cases that he supervised in his 26 years in the department.
“I spent my whole professional life committed to the apolitical application of Federal Criminal Law and to guarantee that those around me understood and embrace that central principle of our work,” he wrote in his letter of resignation the interim attorney general James R. Mchenry. “I am proud of my service and I wish him the best to seek justice in the name of the American people.”
He added that he wanted the department well, since Mr. Trump followed the agenda, “even to protect all Americans from the scourge of violent crimes and public corruption.”
Mr. Amundson is among a series of senior officials of the apolitical department who have been reallocated to the task force of the Sanctuary cities, just a week after the new administration. These career officials have decades of experience in criminal investigations, corruption, terrorism, environmental law or civil rights, and many department officials see reallocations as a way of archiving those people or forcing them to quit smoking.
On Monday, Mr. Amundson resigned.
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