The President of the union that represents some 12,000 United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) employees says his organization opposes an immigration reform bill proposed by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX).
The measure “does nothing to preclude anyone in the world from turning themselves in at the US border and obtaining automatic entry and federal benefits. Almost anyone at all can call themselves an asylum-seeker and get in; it’s a global joke,” warns Kenneth Palinkas.
McCaul called HR 399, which was considered in committee yesterday and could be voted on by the full House next week, “probably the strongest border security bill ever presented to the Congress.” But congressional opponents of illegal immigration, including Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA), say the bill doesn’t do enough to secure the border. Palinkas agrees.
“Those who arrived in the 2014 border run are still here, often living on U.S. support and even applying for U.S. jobs. The bill also delays by years the implementation of biometric exit-entry to police the rising overstay catastrophe,” the union leader warns.
Palinkas also criticized President Obama’s executive amnesty:
Instead of meeting our lawful function to protect the Homeland and keep out those who pose a threat to US security, health, or finances, our officers will be assigned to process amnesty for individuals residing illegally inside our nation’s borders. This compromises national security and public safety, while undermining officer morale.
He issued a similar warning in October, before Obama imposed amnesty for some five million people.
“We admit individuals who have no business being admitted tothe United States, whether public charges, health risks, or radicalized Islamists, and in large numbers. It is unfair to employees, unfair to taxpayers, and unfair to anyone concerned about immigration security,” Palinkas writes, before concluding with a call for actual, effective reform.
“We are saying to Congress: help us. Provide us the tools, mission support and resources we need to protect the Homeland, in accord with the laws and Constitution of the United States.”