Houston Lawyer Sues Immigration Officials for Alleged Defamation
A Houston lawyer is suing two federal immigration officials for alleged defamation over a letter that he says falsely accused him of tampering with a federal document.
Kurt Clarke, who has a solo immigration and personal injury practice, filed a suit (PDF) this week against Sandra Heathman, the Houston field office director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Alejandro Mayorkas, the agency’s national director, in U.S. District Court in Houston, Courthouse News Service reported.
Clarke says the trouble began last year when, in the course of representing a client, he forwarded certain documents he had obtained from the Texas attorney general’s office to the agency at the request of immigration officials.
In response, he says, he received a letter from Heathman falsely accusing him of tampering with a government document.
Clarke, who says he has been a lawyer in good standing for more than 20 years, denies tampering with the documents, which he says were submitted to the agency exactly as he received them from the state attorney general’s office.
Clarke, who says the agency has not responded to his demand for a retraction, is seeking $850,000 in actual damages for injury to his reputation and lost earnings and $3 million in punitive damages.
Agency officials declined to comment on the allegations. So did Clarke’s attorney, Bassey Akpaffiong of Sugar Land, the news service said.
