Chris Crane, the president of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council, which represents ICE agents, was on Greta Van Susteren, last night to voice his concerns about the immigration bill that is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate next week. Crane has been complaining for weeks that the legislation is being crafted behind closed doors without the input of the very people who should be involved – immigration law enforcement.
Yesterday, at the 11th hour, Senator Marco Rubio’s office finally called and set up a phone call to get the ICE union’s input, which only gives them the weekend to go over the entire thing.
“How are we going to have time to go through this 1,500 pages of legislation and have an impact?” Crane wondered.
He went on to ask, “why do we have the AFL-CIO and the Chamber of Commerce, basically big unions and big business that really don’t have the experience or insight that we have – why are they behind closed doors in these secret meetings, having a part in this legislation, and law enforcement doesn’t?”
Greta suggested that Rubio’s move might have been a cynical ploy to show that he had reached out to ICE before his appearances on the Sunday talk shows he’s scheduled to appear on, tomorrow.
Here is Crane’s statement calling on Rubio to abandon the “Gang of Eight” via Matthew Boyle’s exclusive at Big Government, today:
“Senator Rubio was asked during a recent interview that ‘if you don’t get enforcement first, or securing the borders first, is that a deal killer for you?,'” Crane said. “And he replied ‘Absolutely…Because we will be right back here again.’ But the outline from the Gang of 8 offers legalization, or amnesty, before enforcement is accomplished. Senator Schumer admitted as much: ‘we’ve come to a basic agreement, which is that first, people will be legalized…Then, we will make sure the border is secure.’ I would then respectfully call on Senator Rubio to follow through on his commitment to the American people — and his pledge to accomplish enforcement before legalization – and to leave the Gang of 8.”
Also, this morning, the Washington Times reported that Chris Crane blasted the AFL-CIO, (which his union is a part of) because of remarks made by the director of immigration, Ana Avendano, who told the Financial Times this week that they “will steamroller” any politician who tries to block citizenship for illegal immigrants.
“In effect, AFL-CIO leadership is threatening to target lawmakers who oppose the very bill the AFL-CIO helped secretly write behind closed doors,” Crane charged.