ICE union chief has no confidence in Obama immigration reform

Daily Caller:

The head of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent union says that he has no confidence that the Obama administration would step up its border control efforts as part of any immigration reform agreement.

Chris Crane, ICE officer and National ICE Council president representing 7,000 ICE agents, officers, and employees, expressed concern in a statement issued Friday that the “the immigration bill being crafted behind closed doors” by the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” senators “will be rushed to passage without proper public consideration and proper input from the law enforcement community.”

According to Crane, while big businesses and advocacy groups have been given a seat at the table by the White House and at “other secret meetings,” the ICE union has been left out of the conversation.

He added that ICE’s “politically appointed leaders” — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and ICE Director John Morton — “do not speak for us when it comes to enforcing the law” and that the pair have “repeatedly undermined the ability of our officers to enforce and protect the public safety.”

“A mass legalization, or amnesty, of millions of illegal aliens, combined with an increase in future immigration, will have profound consequences for every law enforcement officer in the country and especially those who enforce our nation’s immigration laws,” Crane said. “But we have been shut out of the process.”

“[G]iven the administration’s current enforcement record, I have zero confidence any promises of future enforcement will be fulfilled,” he added.

Crane went on to express gratitude to the six GOP committee members who petitioned Leahy last week for a “fair and open process.”

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This is one of those rare occurrences where you have a government union that is fighting to do its job and is interesting in getting all the facts on the table.  The public needs to hear their point of view, because it is one this administration has been trying to suppress.  It seems to be the only union that Obama is not willing to allow a seat at the table when legislation effecting it is being discussed.