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 A discrimination and retaliation lawsuit has embroiled the upper reaches of the federal government’s immigration enforcement agency, contributing to a sense of turmoil in a bureaucracy that has been suffering major labor conflicts between senior officials and employees. 
 
 The lawsuit, filed by a top federal immigration official in New York, alleges that he was shunted out of a high-level position in the agency in favor of a less-qualified woman because he was a man. 
 
 The official, James T. Hayes Jr., also accuses the agency’s chief of staff, Suzanne Barr, of “sexually offensive behavior” that contributed to a discriminatory work environment for male employees. 
 
 Last week, Ms. Barr stepped down from her post and voluntarily left the agency on paid leave pending the outcome of an internal review of the misconduct allegations, a spokesman said. 
 
 The charges by Mr. Hayes have added to a sense of unrest in the agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security. 
 
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 The union that organizes more than 7,000 enforcement agents, the National ICE Council, has been openly critical of the leadership of the agency’s director, John Morton, and resistant to policy changes he has introduced. The head of the union has accused Mr. Morton, who was appointed in 2009, of failing to consult with agents in the field about the effect of the new policies. 
 
 Last week the union posted a petition on its Web site asking for public support for ICE officers who are “upholding the law.” As of Tuesday morning it had more than 55,000 signatures. 
 
 The discrimination lawsuit, which names Janet Napolitano, the Homeland Security secretary, as the sole defendant, was filed in May by Mr. Hayes, special agent in charge of investigations for the agency’s New York office. 
 
 In the lawsuit, Mr. Hayes claims he was shoved out of a senior-level management position to make way for a less-qualified woman and then suffered retaliation when he threatened to file a discrimination complaint. 
 
 In addition, he accuses Ms. Barr of contributing to a sexualized office culture hostile to men. 
 
 Ms. Barr, the lawsuit alleges, “created a frat house-type atmosphere that is targeted to humiliate and intimidate male employees.” 
 
 Men make up a majority of the leadership at ICE. 
 
 Mr. Hayes’s lawyer, Morris Eli Fischer, said other ICE employees had filed affidavits in support of Mr. Hayes’s lawsuit, also alleging inappropriate behavior by Ms. Barr. Until Mr. Hayes’s lawsuit, however, no employee had filed a sexual harassment complaint against Ms. Barr, said a federal official who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record about the case. 
 
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 Mr. Hayes first accused the agency of discrimination last year in a formal complaint to its Equal Employment Opportunity office, according to court documents. That complaint, however, did not include any sexual harassment allegations. 
 
 Brian Hale, director of public affairs for ICE, said the agency “will respond directly and strongly to this lawsuit in court.” He added that the misconduct allegations were referred to internal affairs investigators at Homeland Security and ICE. 
 
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 Federal lawyers filed a motion last week to dismiss the lawsuit on grounds that it failed to present sufficient facts to justify the claims. 
 
 Mr. Hayes began his federal career in 1995 as a border patrol agent in Texas and quickly ascended the ranks of the federal immigration bureaucracy. In September 2008, he was promoted to head the agency’s detention and removal operations, managing a staff of 8,500 and a budget of about $2.5 billion, according to the lawsuit. 
 
 But Mr. Hayes contends that he was soon supplanted in meetings by Dora B. Schriro, who was appointed in February 2009 as a special adviser to Ms. Napolitano for detention and removal operations. 
 
 Mr. Hayes contends that he was “being replaced in his duties” in part because “he was not female,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. 
 
 Mr. Hayes claims that Ms. Schriro was unqualified for the job because she lacked federal law enforcement experience. Ms. Schriro had previously served as head of both Missouri’s and Arizona’s correction departments. She left Homeland Security in 2009 and is currently the commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction. 
 
 Mr. Hayes sought a transfer to Los Angeles, the lawsuit contends, but his request was denied. 
 
 When he threatened to file an internal discrimination complaint, the lawsuit says, the agency opened four misconduct investigations against him and reopened two others “to intimidate him,” the lawsuit says. 
 
 He was eventually transferred to New York in late 2009 “at a substantial financial loss,” he claims, and is suing to recover $335,000 in moving costs, unpaid relocation bonuses and lost wages. Mr. Hayes, Ms. Barr nor Ms. Schriro could be reached for comment, though a spokesman for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said in a statement that Ms. Schriro’s appointment at ICE was “based on merit.” ||||| The top Homeland Security official accused of cultivating a "frat-house"-style work environment has "voluntarily placed herself on leave" amid an internal review, the department told FoxNews.com late Tuesday evening -- just hours after FoxNews.com contacted the agency about new allegations against her. 
 
 The official, Suzanne Barr, is chief of staff for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 
 
 Two more ICE employees came forward this week to complain about "lewd" conduct inside the agency, submitting sworn affidavits that depict graphic comments made by two top officials working under DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. 
 
 The affidavits were given as part of a discrimination and retaliation suit filed earlier this year by James T. Hayes Jr., the head of the New York office for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 
 
 The two new affidavits described separate incidents in 2009. Both accounts described the actions of Barr, who was also mentioned in Hayes' lawsuit. 
 
 ICE Public Affairs Director Brian Hale said in a written statement that the department would respond "directly and strongly" to the lawsuit in court, but noted internal measures were being taken over the claims against Barr. 
 
 "ICE has referred these allegations to the DHS Office of Inspector General and the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility for review. Ms. Barr has voluntarily placed herself on leave pending the outcome of this review," ICE Public Affairs Director Brian Hale said in a written statement. 
 
 In the newly emerging affidavits, one of the employees claimed that in October 2009, while in a discussion about Halloween plans, the individual witnessed Barr turn to a senior ICE employee and say: "You a sexy" (expletive deleted). 
 
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 "She then looked at his crotch and asked, 'How long is it anyway?'" according to the affidavit. 
 
 "Several employees laughed nervously," the affidavit said. The names of the workers making the claims have been redacted. 
 
 The other account recalled a trip to Colombia in late 2009, attended by ICE Director John Morton, Barr and Ray Parmer, who is ICE special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations in New Orleans. 
 
 The account said Parmer and Barr were "drinking heavily" at the house of the deputy chief of mission for the U.S. Embassy there. It said Parmer took the BlackBerry of another employee, Peter Vincent, and sent "lewd messages" to Barr. 
 
 The affidavit went on to say: "During this party, Suzanne Barr approached me and offered to" perform oral sex. 
 
 The two accounts were submitted this week to the defense attorney in the case Hayes filed against Napolitano. 
 
 A DHS spokesman had previously described the allegations in the Hayes suit as "unfounded." 
 
 Attorney Morris Fischer, who represents Hayes, told FoxNews.com his team is in the process of gathering more evidence. 
 
 "People are coming out of the woodwork on this because this is such a serious matter and people want to see this agency's mess cleaned up," he said. 
 
 While Napolitano is named as the sole defendant, Hayes' suit focuses on Barr and Dora Schriro, who joined DHS in February 2009, five months after Hayes was promoted to director of ICE Detention and Removal Operations. 
 
 Hayes claims Schriro, who was brought on as a special adviser to Napolitano, was not qualified for the job because she lacked law enforcement experience. Hayes maintained Schriro enjoyed a "long-standing relationship" with Napolitano, and soon pushed him aside "because of this relationship (with Napolitano) and because he was not female," the suit says. 
 
 Schriro previously led the Arizona and Missouri corrections departments. She has since left DHS and now serves as commissioner for the New York City Department of Correction.
– A federal worker who says he lost out on a plum job because he is a man has filed a discrimination lawsuit naming Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano as the sole defendant. What's more, James T. Hayes also alleges that a high-ranking official in Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office "created a frat house-type atmosphere that is targeted to humiliate and intimidate male employees," reports the New York Times. That official, Suzanne Barr, has gone on paid leave as an investigation into the allegations continues, notes Fox News. They came to light after Hayes says he got passed over in favor of a woman who he says wasn't qualified. He says she got the job because she had a "long-standing relationship" with Napolitano—"and because he was not female," according to the lawsuit.