Latest News

Lack of Funds and Space Frees Suspects

Posted Mon, 01/11/2010 - 10:45pm by president

Data show ICE releases alleged illegal immigrants, violent convicts

U.S. immigration officials have released from federal custody hundreds of suspected illegal immigrants accused or convicted of crimes, including homicide and sexual assault, because of a lack of space and funds, according to internal records.

Krome Immigration Service Processing Center has Confirmed H1N1 Flu Cases

Posted Mon, 01/11/2010 - 10:42pm by president

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Slow to Act, Not Doing Enough to Protect Employees, says AFGE

(WASHINGTON) – The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Krome Service Processing Center in Miami, FL has confirmed cases of H1N1. The American Federation of Government Employees has urged the agency for weeks to fit its personnel with N-95 masks, as well as training and information on to deal with the H1N1 virus. “This is an outrage that it has taken an actual outbreak to move DHS into action with regard to the safety and well-being of its employees,” said Pat Remigio, president of AFGE National Council 118-ICE. Members of AFGE National Council 118-ICE were briefed yesterday by DHS on plans to deal with the H1N1 virus. “DHS is a day late and a dollar short. Our personnel should have been briefed and fitted for protective gear from the outset,” continued Remigio.

ICE Refusing to Answer Questions About Discriminatory Leave for Atlanta Flood Victims

Posted Mon, 01/11/2010 - 9:25pm by president

Atlanta Field Office director tells union "we are not equals"

(ATLANTA)—U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is refusing to answer questions about discriminatory leave practices for employees in Douglas County, Georgia, the American Federation of Government Employees Local 527 said today. AFGE has received reports that some ICE employees in Atlanta are being given administrative leave to deal with recent flooding, while others are denied such leave and being made to use annual leave. The union has reached out to both the ICE Atlanta Field Office and ICE headquarters, but all requests for information have been ignored.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council 118 President Patrick Remigio will discuss low staffing and funding levels, and efforts to have Council 118’s contract enforced at the agency

Posted Mon, 01/11/2010 - 9:17pm by admin

Activists from the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) will shed light on issues facing their agencies this week on AFGE’s “Inside Government” radio show.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council 118 President Patrick Remigio will discuss low staffing and funding levels, and efforts to have Council 118’s contract enforced at the agency. Department of Defense Local 2024 Chief Steward Don Hands then will share his concerns about contracting out initiatives and the National Security Personnel System. AFGE Communications Specialist Michael Victorian will discuss the union’s Young & Organizing Unionists for the Next Generation (Y.O.U.N.G.) program.

Criminal Deportees Often Fly Unescorted

Posted Mon, 01/11/2010 - 9:04pm by president

By SUSAN CARROLL Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials routinely put illegal immigrants unescorted on commercial flights for deportation, including some who are sex offenders or have other criminal records, according to documents and field agent accounts.

The practice has prompted complaints from a key U.S. senator and ICE union leaders, who contend that putting illegal immigrants convicted of serious crimes on commercial airlines unescorted poses a severe public safety risk.

Unescorted deportees have caused disruptions on flights and have absconded after unscheduled stops, including two Peruvian deportees who disappeared from Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport in July, according to field agent reports collected by union officials. Internal ICE documents show that illegal immigrants convicted of sex crimes involving victims as young as 11 have been allowed to fly unescorted.

AFGE ICE Council Testifies Before House Homeland Security Committee

Posted Mon, 01/11/2010 - 2:59pm by president

Union Criticizes Lax Security Proposals for Detention Facilities

(WASHINGTON) - American Federation of Government Employees National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council 118 Vice President Chris Crane testified today before the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, criticizing new proposed changes to the agency’s Detention and Removal Operations, saying that the changes jeopardize staff and ICE detainee safety.

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison to Promote Public Jobs Plan on "Inside Government"

Posted Thu, 12/17/2009 - 12:00am by president

AFGE Member Benefits, Privatization at Federal Protective Service Also to be Addressed

WASHINGTON—U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) will highlight his public jobs bill this week on the American Federation of Government Employees’ (AFGE) “Inside Government” radio program. The show will air on Friday, Dec. 18 at 10 a.m. EST nationwide on Federal News Radio at www.federalnewsradio.com and 1500 AM in the Washington, D.C., area.

Hinchey, Murtha, and Skelton Suspended Pending A-76 Studies and Conversions

Posted Wed, 12/16/2009 - 12:00am by president

The FY10 Defense Appropriations Conference Report includes a provision that would suspend all pending OMB Circular A-76 studies and conversions in the Department of Defense (DoD).

Although all agencies were forbidden earlier this year from starting new privatization studies, DoD has stubbornly insisted on carrying out more than a dozen old privatization studies that were started during the Bush Administration in order to achieve now outlawed political privatization quotas. These studies under the now disgraced and discredited A-76 process unfairly jeopardize the jobs of more than 2,000 civilian employees.