Sheriffs, Immigration Agents: No One Consulted Us on Immigration Bill

by Matthew Boyle 18 Apr 2013

  Law enforcement officials from around the country coalesced on Thursday against the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” immigration bill, arguing that it did not solve of the nation’s immigration law problems and railing on the senators involved for not including law enforcement experts in their creation of the bill. “Almost one month ago, we asked for a meeting with the Gang of Eight to discuss law enforcement concerns,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents’ union president Chris Crane said at a Thursday press conference.

“They told us they weren’t taking meetings but they were meeting all along with special interests and pro-amnesty groups. Finally, after public pressure grew, I got a late Monday night meeting with Sen. Rubio the day before this almost-1,000-page bill was introduced. I raised my many public safety concerns and pleaded with him not to drop the bill until these public safety concerns with law enforcement were addressed. They dropped it anyway.”

Crane went on to say that he thinks the bill will "put the public safety at risk without doubt. It fails on interior enforcement, it’s amnesty first, enforcement perhaps never.

“Unfortunately, I do not believe that the Gang of Eight is a group that we can trust with a matter so important to the safety of American communities and security of our nation,” Crane said.

Dona Ana County New Mexico sheriff Todd Garrison said he and other sheriffs had offered the Gang of Eight and other lawmakers their support and expertise on immigration reform, but the group of senators shunned them. “We have offered our services on a number of occasions to come down here and discuss this issue, being that we live on the border and deal with these issues every day,” Garrison said. “With the current bill, it’s hard to keep trusting our federal government on these issues and it’s really frustrating. We are public servants, we have been elected to public office to serve the public, and our concerns for public safety, for our counties, for our country, and that’s what we want to do.”

Sheriff Sam Page of Rockingham County, North Carolina, and a member of the leadership of the National Sheriffs Association, was equally disappointed in the process. “When we enact legislation in North Carolina that deals with public safety, we have input,” Page said. “We should have input, as law enforcement, as persons who are going to be enforcing the laws. And here in Congress, out of our lawmakers, I would expect nothing different.”

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), an ardent opponent of the Gang of Eight’s amnesty efforts, said the bipartisan bill focused more on special interest groups' concerns than on actual law enforcement. “Like in 2007, the special interests were brought in,” Sessions said at the press conference. “They engaged behind closed doors to help write a bill while the law enforcement officers, the ones given the duty to make sure the law is complied with, have been shut out, as has been the public, from this.”

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No Law Enforcement Figures Speak at Immigration Bill Press Conference

by Matthew Boyle 18 Apr 2013

 

 No law enforcement officials or representatives spoke to endorse the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” immigration reform bill on Thursday at the group’s Capitol Hill press conference announcing it. Instead, at the “Gang of Eight” press conference, as USA Today reported they would be, the senators were “joined by business leaders, like the head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as well as labor leaders from the AFL-CIO and Service Employees International Union.”

At the presser, Gang of Eight member Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that the bill means “the business community and organized labor rose to the occasion.”

Across Capitol Hill at a press conference that began 15 minutes earlier held by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), and Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) to oppose the bill, several members of the law enforcement community expressed their dissatisfaction with the Gang of Eight bill.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers union president Chris Crane and border sheriffs from New Mexico and Arizona, law enforcement officials who deal with the issue of illegal immigration on a daily basis, announced their opposition to the bill.

Barletta himself is a former mayor of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, a town that, despite its distance from the border, faced serious illegal immigration issues during his time leading the city.

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Sen. Sessions: Immigration Reform Bill 'Will Not Withstand Public Scrutiny'

by Matthew Boyle 13 Apr 2013
 

  Ranking Senate Budget Committee member Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) said in a Thursday evening statement provided to Breitbart News that the political posturing of the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” immigration group, along with Senate Democratic leadership, and their plan to rush forthcoming legislation through the U.S. Senate as fast as they can is a sign the bill will not hold up in the face of public scrutiny.

“While the Gang has not briefed lawmakers or the judiciary committee about their plan, they have leaked selected details to the press which seem to confirm Senator Schumer’s recent declaration that ‘First, people will be legalized… Then, we will make sure the border is secure,’” Sessions said in the statement.

Based on what has been leaked, and current ICE directives, it could become nearly impossible for ICE officers to distinguish between those illegal immigrants eligible for legal status and those ineligible for legal status – including future illegal immigrants who will simply assert they are amnesty-eligible. It is likely millions of current and future illegal immigrants who are not administrative "priorities" will benefit from this amnesty regardless of whether they meet the Gang’s criteria. That is why it is so essential that these enforcement issues be worked out first.

“This is also why it is so troubling that Chairman Leahy has rejected the GOP request for multiple hearings and that members of the Gang of 8 have publicly announced their intention to oppose any amendments,” Sessions added. “To proceed along these lines is tantamount to an admission that the bill is not workable and will not withstand public scrutiny.”

The details that Sen. Sessions cites as troubling include:

• Instead of securing the border first, it merely requires DHS to submit a plan (within 6 months) to achieve modest enforcement goals at some point in the next 10 years in exchange for an immediate grant of amnesty. History tells us the enforcement part will never effectively happen.
• Even the border security’s future targets are weak: the plan only requires DHS to state what resources DHS needs in order to apprehend 90% of those illegal immigrants the border patrol sees – but not those who successfully evade border patrol altogether.
• Increased security is called for only in certain areas of the southwest border, leaving huge vulnerabilities to cartels and other illegal immigrants.
• There is no requirement to complete the 700 miles of double-layered border fence that Congress has previously mandated (less than 40 miles of which have been completed).
• Interior enforcement components are also delayed until after the amnesty occurs, including a 5-year delay in the implementation of E-Verify.
• The plan calls for an “electronic” exit system to track visa overstays at air and sea ports. However, Congress has required – through a 17-year old mandate that has been ignored – that the exit system must be biometric and be implemented at all ports of entry, including the largest port – our land borders. GAO has said that without this biometric exit system, DHS cannot track visa overstays.
• The plan’s guest worker program as described is not temporary; it will allow for one million foreign workers to enter the country each year and eventually apply for green cards and citizenship.

In a report published late on Wednesday, Politico unveiled that at least three of the four Republicans in the Gang of Eight plan to stick with the rest of the gang to block amendments and keep the agreement the eight senators reach behind closed doors intact as it is forced through the Congress.

"Most members of the group are prepared to band together, defeating one by one any controversial amendment that can upset the deal’s balance," Politico's Carrie Budoff Brown and Manu Raju wrote.
“That’s what gangs do," Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, a Gang of Eight member, said.
Flake's fellow Arizona Republican and Gang of Eight member Sen. John McCain agreed. "Generally speaking, we expect everybody to stick to the agreement that we made," McCain said.

“We’re going to be open-minded to ways to make it better, but if there are things out there that clearly would kill it, I hope we’ll stick together,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), another Gang of Eight member, said.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has remained largely quiet on whether or not he plans to stick with the Gang of Eight to block amendments to the legislation. Rubio says he supports an open and transparent immigration reform process, and has called for multiple hearings on the forthcoming legislation so lawmakers and the public can thoroughly examine each and every facet of it.

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Pat Leahy, though, has only agreed to one hearing. It is scheduled for next Wednesday afternoon, even though the legislation has still not been introduced; its only scheduled witness thus far is Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

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ICE Union Pres: 'Dark Day' for America when AFL-CIO Threatens to 'Steamroller' Lawmakers

by Matthew Boyle 12 Apr 2013
 

  Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents’ union president Chris Crane said in a statement provided to Breitbart News that AFL-CIO leadership’s threat to politically demolish any lawmaker who opposes amnesty is troubling. Earlier this week, AFL-CIO director of immigration Ana Avendañon said the massive labor union would eviscerate politicians who stand in the way of amnesty for America’s at least 11 million illegal immigrants. “Politicians know that if they stand in the way of citizenship we will steamroller them,” Avendaño said. “That’s a fun evolution.”

Crane is not thrilled about those remarks, saying he was “deeply alarmed” to read them.
“As an American, an AFL-CIO member, a law officer, and a veteran, I think it’s a dark day for our country when unions openly threaten the representatives of the people in order stop free and open discussion and stifle our representative form of government through coercion,” Crane said. “I certainly hope that the AFL-CIO reconsiders its position, and allows elected officials to represent the opinions of Americans within their districts without fear of union retribution.”

Crane adds that he thinks the AFL-CIO’s threats are even more troubling in this particular case because the massive labor union was one of the few special interest groups that had a hand in actually writing the legislation.

“Ms. Avendano’s remarks are even more disturbing given that, according to news reports, the AFL-CIO has been closely involved in the crafting of the Gang of 8’s comprehensive immigration bill,” Crane said. “In effect, AFL-CIO leadership is threatening to target lawmakers who oppose the very bill the AFL-CIO helped secretly write behind closed doors. While the AFL-CIO obviously had its chance to provide input on the proposed legislation, it seems clear that the AFL-CIO plans to deprive other Americans from having the same opportunity through their elected representatives.”

To top it all off and make matters even worse, Crane notes that the union leadership and Chamber of Commerce, among other special interests involved in drafting this legislation, will likely line their pockets with cash as a result of the bill if it passes. Crane said that these special interest groups have had their hands in this process, while law enforcement experts such as himself have been left out in the cold. Crane said that signals to him that the White House and the Gang of Eight pushing immigration reform in the Senate are not really interested in securing the border, or fixing the law enforcement problems plaguing the country’s immigration system.

“Instead, the President and the Gang of 8 shunned America’s immigration officers in favor of Big Unions, Big Business and attorneys and special interest groups – all of which stand to make billions from illegal aliens under the new legislation,” Crane said. “Judging from information leaked this week regarding the legislation, it appears that the Gang of 8 and its big money associates have simply created amnesty for 11 million illegal aliens in the US with no guaranteed commitment of ever providing for strengthened enforcement to prevent the problems of our current immigration situation from recurring.”

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AFL-CIO: We Will 'Steamroller' Any Lawmaker Who Opposes Amnesty

by Matthew Boyle 10 Apr 2013
 

 A principal official at the AFL-CIO, one of America’s biggest labor unions, said Wednesday the organization would politically demolish any politician who opposes mass amnesty for the country’s at least 11 million illegal immigrants. “Politicians know that if they stand in the way of citizenship we will steamroller them,” AFL-CIO director of immigration Ana Avendaño said, according to the Financial Times. “That’s a fun evolution.”

Avendaño (pictured) has been involved in the immigration reform negotiations between the labor community, the business community, and the bipartisan Gang of Eight U.S. Senators.

The legislative text of the plan the eight senators—Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Jeff Flake (R-AZ)—are working on has not yet been publicly released. The bill is expected to be around 1,500 pages long, and Senate Budget Committee Republican staff estimates the package will cost taxpayers several trillion dollars to cover entitlements for the illegal immigrants who are expected to be legalized as a result.

While the original framework of the plan stated that border security and law enforcement reform were to come first, then “trigger” legalization for the 11 million illegal immigrants, Schumer recently said in an appearance on Meet The Press that the Gang of Eight was going to go a different direction. “So look, we've come to a basic agreement, which is that first, people will be legalized,” Schumer said. “In other words, not citizens, but they'll be allowed to work, come out of the shadows, travel. Then, we will make sure the border is secure.”

In response to this threat from the AFL-CIO, a Senate aide told Breitbart News that Senate Republicans in the Gang of Eight enabled this vulnerability by getting involved in such matters with Democrats and unions.
“If you lay down with dogs, you’re going to get fleas,” the aide said of the Gang of Eight Republicans getting involved with Schumer and Durbin.

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