PrintImmigration employee union head to oppose Senate bill
These are the people who will be approving the paperwork of illegals seeking amnesty and their union chief is none to thrilled with the idea.
The Senate's immigration bill will raise national security risks and the Obama administration will do little more than "rubber-stamp" illegal immigrants into the program, endangering Americans, says the labor union representing the 12,000 employees who will have to approve the applications.
Kenneth Palinkas, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 119, which represents officers and staff at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, will deliver a damning critique of the Senate bill Monday, according to a copy of his statement obtained by The Washington Times.
His statement goes well beyond the current debate, portraying an agency intent on approving as many illegal immigrants as possible.
"The culture at USCIS encourages all applications to be approved, discouraging proper investigation into red flags and discouraging the denial of any applications," his remarks say. "USCIS has been turned into an 'approval machine.'"
The union becomes the second key Homeland Security Department labor group to oppose the bill. Its opposition dents the bill and deals a blow to the AFL-CIO - the coalition of labor unions that has put major legislative muscle behind the bill this year but is seeing its members peel off.
Mr. Palinkas says the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" senators who wrote the Senate bill never talked to the USCIS and that the legislation is riddled with special-interest loopholes and shirks security checks.
"The legislation was written with special interests - producing a bill that makes the current system worse, not better," Mr. Palinkas' remarks say. The bill "will damage public safety and national security and should be opposed by lawmakers."
That sounds pretty definitive and pretty much confirms what many who are opposing the Senate bill have been saying; the process is going to be made worse, not better and that the safety of the American people are going to be at risk.
The Senate will take up the immigration sometime next month.
