With reports indicating that the so-called Gang of Eight in the Senate is close to a deal on immigration reform, the top union representative for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents has expressed “very real concern” that the bill in question “will be rushed to passage” without proper consideration from the public and from the law-enforcement community.
“A mass legalization, or amnesty, of millions of illegal aliens, combined with an increase in future immigration, will have profound consequences for every law enforcement officer in the country and especially those who enforce our nation’s immigration laws,” ICE union president Chris Crane said in a statement on Friday. “But we have been shut out of the process.”
Crane, who has been a vocal critic of the administration’s approach to immigration enforcement, said that “politically appointed leaders” such as Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano and ICE director John Morton “do not speak for us when it comes to enforcing the law,” adding that the lawmakers currently involved in immigration-reform talks have not reached out to rank-and-file enforcement agents.
The union chief expressed “zero confidence” that “promises of future enforcement will be fulfilled,” given the administration’s failure to adequately secure the border at present.