On May 20th a large new union comprising of over 12,000 immigration officers declared that they were opposed to the new immigration reform bill that has been proposed by the bipartisan senators who make up the “Gang of Eight” that authored the legislation. The group is representing a large number of employees from the US Department of Homeland Security, who deal specifically with immigration.
The union members are made up of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council and the National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council and would be heavily involved with granting US citizenship to over 11 million undocumented immigrants who currently live in the country without any official authorization to do so.
The National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council president, Kenneth Palinkas, has complained that the Gang of Eight never consulted with them before coming up with the legislation, which he claims does not include issues of public safety and a number of the serious worries that USCIS has over the current system. “The mission of our federal employees is critical to identifying threats and providing for public safety and national security,” says Palinkas. “We are the very backbone of our nation’s immigration system and will be at the center of implementing any immigration reform.”
Fox News says that three unions that support federal employees have come out in opposition to the immigration reform bill, with the National ICE Council (which has over 70,000 agents) having refused to support the legislation in a letter to Congress earlier this month.