DOJ Employee Who Harassed DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen May Be in Hot Water

Well, this is despicable, and if they want to silence the notion that the Department of Justice is a stewing cesspool, full of hard left reactionaries, this is probably not going to help their cause.

Some of you may have heard about an incident that occurred Tuesday, in the heat of the debate over what to do with the immigrant children being held in detainment centers at the border. Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of Homeland Security was chased by an angry, chanting mob from a Mexican restaurant.

At least one of those in the mob was a Justice Department employee.

 Allison Hrabar, a Justice Department paralegal specialist and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, helped organize a dozen-person DSA-led contingent that chanted “shame” at Nielsen until she left MXDC Cocina Mexicana.

Hrabar came under intense scrutiny following the downtown D.C. protest, and political opponents demanded that she be fired for protesting Nielsen’s role in separating suspected illegal immigrants from their children — a policy President Trump partially reversed Wednesday.

While her conduct remains under review, Hrabar is still gainfully employed with the DOJ, and has received no discipline, as of late Thursday.

It appears to be a First Amendment issue. Does being a Justice Department employee vacate her freedom of speech, especially when she’s off the clock?

Experts say Hrabar is probably in the clear, though analysis depends on the legality of her protest and whether the restaurant requests charges for trespassing or disturbing the peace. Messages left with the business and its celebrity chef Todd English were not returned.

Some complexity is added to the analysis because Hrabar allegedly posted political messages on Twitter during business hours, including, “Keeping families together in jail is not an acceptable solution.”

What to do… What to do.

University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey Stone said the Hatch Act restricts the political rights of federal workers. But he also said, “I do not think there is any basis for firing her that would be consistent with the First Amendment.”

“If she is expressly supporting a political candidate, there could be a Hatch Act issue. But if she’s just expressing her views about public issues, she is protected by the First Amendment,” he said.

This does add another layer for those who have insisted that the Justice Department became so partisan and corrupted under the administration of former President Barack Obama and his two, absolutely corrupt attorney generals, Eric Holder, and then Loretta Lynch, that the department is incapable of operating on a nonpartisan basis.

They’ll certainly use it.

Professor Stone also pointed out that if there was some sort of illegal act, such as a trespass, in the course of the protest, such as the owner of the establishment asking her (Hrabar) to leave and her failure to comply, then that would constitute an offense worthy of dismissal. To date, there has been no complaint filed by the owner.

“A public employee who engages in speech activity that substantially undermines her ability to do her job can be dismissed, consistent with the First Amendment, but nothing in this situation seems to me to fall within that doctrine,” Stone added.

Other areas that may sink Hrabar include promoting a particular politician or political party while on company time. If she was carrying on her protests over social media, or promoting the Democratic Socialists on her social media pages, while on the clock, then she’s sunk.

It appears, however, that Hrabar was a bit unsure and feeling the heat, because she made her Twitter profile private, as of Wednesday, while things were really beginning to pick up steam.

Hrabar told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday that “we think it’s important to put ourselves on the line” and that “it feels really good to confront people who are actually responsible” for policies she opposes.

“If you see these people in public, you should remind them that they shouldn’t have peace,” she said. “We aren’t the only ones who can do this. Anyone who sees Kirstjen Nielsen at dinner, anyone who sees anyone who works at DHS and ICE at dinner can confront them like this, and that’s what we hope this will inspire people to do.”

Oh, she’s a peach.

And no, don’t do this. Let these people have their private time in private, lest you find the shoe on the other foot, one day.