The president of the union representing 12,000 immigration services agents said he is adamantly opposed to any plans by President Barack Obama to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants through executive action,
the Washington Examiner reported.
Kenneth Palinkas, president of the National Citizenship and Immigration Services union, characterized an executive order on immigration as "dangerous" and said that amnesty would "exponentially" increase the health and national security risks to the public while raising costs for taxpayers.
"If you care about your immigration security and your neighborhood security, you must act now to ensure that Congress stops this unilateral amnesty," Palinkas said in a public statement.
After immigration reform
failed to progress in Congress earlier this year, the president pledged this summer to "fix as much of our immigration system as I can on my own."
In August,
The Washington Post reported that the White House was drawing up plans for an executive order that would grant amnesty to possibly millions of undocumented immigrants, allowing them to avoid deportation and gain green cards.
Speculation about imminent action was fueled last week when the Department of Homeland Security announced it was seeking materials to produce as many as
34 million green cards and work visas in the coming years.
The director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Leon Rodríguez , also
fueled speculation that an executive order would soon be announced after he said, "We're going to be ready."
"Our agency will be shouldering the primary responsibility for executing whatever it is," Rodriguez said.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest refused to say whether the order for green card materials was linked to Obama's possible executive order but called the suggestion "crazy," according to the Examiner.
Palinkas, whose union members opposed the bipartisan effort in the Senate to pass immigration reform, has said that citizenship and immigration agents have
not been equipped to handle the tens of thousands of illegal immigrants that have crossed the border into the United States from Central America since last year.
"We are still the world's rubber-stamp for entry into the United States, regardless of the ramifications of the constant violations to the Immigration and Nationality Act," Palinkas said, according to the Examiner.
"Whether it's the failure to uphold the public charge laws, the abuse of our asylum procedures, the admission of Islamist radicals, or visas for health risks, the taxpayers are being fleeced and public safety is being endangered on a daily basis," he said.
On Monday, former Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano said she believed Obama should take executive action on immigration.
"If Congress refuses to act and perform its duties, then I think it's appropriate for the executive to step in and use his authorities based on law ... to take action in the immigration arena," Napolitano told The Washington Post.
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