USCIS Union Joins ICE Union and Law Enforcement in Opposing Gang of Eight Amnesty Bill

USCIS Union Joins ICE Union and Law Enforcement in Opposing Gang of Eight Amnesty Bill

Monday, May 20, 2013, 9:00 AM EDT - posted on NumbersUSA

The union that represents the federal employees at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has joined the ICE Union in opposing the Gang of Eight's amnesty legislation. In a letter released today by Kenneth Palinkas, President of the National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council, he announced that his union has signed onto a letter started by the ICE Union and signed by dozens of law enforcement agents across the country urging Congress to oppose S.744.
"I am pleased to add my name to the nationwide law enforcement letter organized by the National ICE Council," Palinkas said. "We at USCIS are honored to stand with immigration officers and law enforcement officials across the nation. Dedicated USCIS adjudications officers and staff perform the indispensable work of reviewing millions of applications every single year for those seeking to receive visas, become citizens and permanent residents, or to otherwise adjust their immigration status. The mission of our federal employees is critical to identifying threats and providing for public safety and national security. We are the very backbone of our nation's immigration system and will be at the center of implementing any immigration reform. ...
"[t]he legislation will provide legal status to millions of visa overstays while failing to provide for necessary in-person interviews. Legal status is also explicitly granted to millions who have committed serious immigration and criminal offenses, while dramatically boosting future immigration without correcting the flaws in our current legal immigration process. We need immigration reform that works. This legislation, sadly, will not."
The National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council is part of the American Federation of Government Employees. The 12,000 federal employees represented by the USCIS Union would be charged with processing the amnesty applications, processing applications for green cards, and managing the E-Verify system and upgrades included in the Gang of Eight's bill. Their release today includes references to several of the provisions within the bill that would allow USCIS under the direction of the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to process applications for illegal aliens who have been convicted of multiple crimes or are members of violent criminal gangs.
A copy of the USCIS Union's letter can be viewed here.
A ICE Union letter to Congress can be viewed here and a list of its signees can be viewed here.