Please Click to Read Press Release - Time Is Running Out For Gang of 8 to Meet With Law Enforcement
Time Is Running Out For Gang of 8 to Meet With Law Enforcement
Washington, DC - The following statement was issued today by Chris Crane, National ICE Council President:
“The National ICE Council represents approximately 7,600 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, agents, and support staff. These are the men and women I proudly serve with who risk their lives to uphold our nation’s laws and protect the public safety. We have tried for weeks, unsuccessfully, to get a meeting with the Gang of 8 in order to share our deep concerns about the breakdown of interior enforcement in America. ICE’s political leadership, specifically Secretary Napolitano and Director Morton, have repeatedly and dangerously undermined the ability of ICE officers and agents to do their jobs and ensure the constitutionally established rule of law is upheld. Yet, while the Gang of 8 has, as reported for months, worked extensively with powerful interest groups, ICE officers – like the public – have been shut out. Now we understand from media reports that the Gang of 8 is preparing to drop a 1,500 page bill on Tuesday, and pass it as quickly as possible, without having received any input from rank-and-file ICE officers. If the Gang is truly committed to enforcement and public safety they should be eager to provide our officers with an opportunity to review this legislation and offer detailed input before it is introduced. I would therefore respectfully request that the introduction of the bill be delayed so that ICE officers and others in the law enforcement community can be fully briefed on this 1,500 page bill and offer detailed input regarding some of our nation’s most urgent interior enforcement needs that this proposal seemingly does nothing to address. It is our opinion that the Americans who have actually worked within our nation’s broken immigration system and who have firsthand knowledge and experience with enforcing US immigration law should have at least a fraction of the consideration offered to AFL-CIO leadership and the Chamber of Commerce.
Unlike some Washington interest groups and lobbies, our only agenda is the public safety, the safety of our officers, and the rule law. If the group of Senators finalizing this 1,500 page bill remain unwilling to meet with our officers I fear the American public should be prepared for a proposal that will succeed only in delivering amnesty and that will repeat history by failing to deliver on enforcement."
