The president of the union representing 12,000 immigration services agents Thursday attacked immigration reform legislation proposed by Texas Rep. Michael McCaul that seeks to secure the nation's borders.
Kenneth Palinkas, president of the National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council, said that McCaul's proposal "does nothing to preclude anyone in the world from turning themselves in at the U.S. 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," Palinkas said in a letter to members of the House Homeland Security Committee, which McCaul chairs. "It’s not border security if anyone can recite the magic words and get waved right on in."
McCaul, who is in his sixth term,
proposed legislation this week that would deploy the Texas National Guard permanently to the South Texas border and expand fines to illegals caught crossing into the United States.
The House is expected to consider the bill next week. The Republican-controlled chamber last week voted to provide $39.7 billion for the Department of Homeland Security while stopping key
immigration orders that President Barack Obama announced in November.
While McCaul has called his proposal "the toughest border security bill before Congress," other conservatives have attacked it as not being strong enough.
Daniel Horowitz of The Conservative Review has said that Republicans should continue pushing to defund Obama's amnesty orders, which provide deportation relief and grant work permits to as many as 6 million illegals.
In his letter, Palinkas said that McCaul's bill does not give his members the resources necessary to ferret out illegals who may pose a national security threat. USCIS processes green card applications, as well as those for individuals seeking asylum, refugee status and temporary work permits.
Obama's executive orders "places the mission of USCIS in grave peril," he said.
"Instead of meeting our lawful function to protect the homeland and keep out those who pose a threat to U.S. security, health, or finances, our officers will be assigned to process amnesty for individuals residing illegally inside our nation’s borders," Palinkas said. "This compromises national security and public safety, while undermining officer morale."
The agency's poor resources result in admitting "individuals who have no business being admitted the United States — whether public charges, health risks, or radicalized Islamists — and in large numbers," he said. "It is unfair to employees, unfair to taxpayers, and unfair to anyone concerned about immigration security."
The union leader praised House members for passing the amendments last month that beat back Obama's orders but slammed the Senate for its inaction on the issue.
"All I hear is silence in the Senate," Palinkas said. "It seems congressional leaders will not rise to defend the laws of the United States, but are giving in to the 'imperial presidency.'
"We are saying to Congress: help us," he concluded. "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."
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