A labor union representing federal employees who approve immigration applications has become the latest group to declare their opposition to the immigration bill currently working its way through the Senate.
Kenneth Palinkas, President of the National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council, believes that the new bill could lead to massive fraud, according to the Chicago Tribune. Palinkas said the proposed bill would "damage public safety and national security and should be opposed by lawmakers."
The immigration bill is still being debated and having amendments proposed in the Senate Judiciary Committee, although a vote on the bill could happen as early as Wednesday, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council represents the workers who will be responsible for processing the mass number of applications for immigration expected if the bill were to pass.
"The legislation will provide legal status to millions of visa overstays while failing to provide for necessary in-person interviews," Palinkas said. "Legal status is also explicitly granted to millions who have committed serious immigration and criminal offenses."
The root of Palinkas' concern over the bill is that his union will be forced into approving hundreds of thousands if not millions of applications without conducting the due diligence necessary, according to the Los Angeles Times. Palinkas said that under the Obama administration his officers are "pressured to rubber stamp applications instead of conducting diligent case review and investigation."
Palinkas also made clear that his group was not consulted by the senators who drafted the bill, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"The legislation was written with special interests, producing a bill that makes the current system worse, not better," Palinkas said.
Palinkas' group is joining the National ICE Council, a union representing Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, in opposing the bill, according to Yahoo. The opposition of the two groups is expected to help the cause of Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and other Senate Republicans trying to defeat the immigration bill.
