This Issue: The Biden Administration helps disband ICE union whose members were outspoken in their support of immigration enforcement.

Trying to decide the subject matter for the newsletter can take some creativity in weeks when there's little immigration-related activity in D.C., which, under the Biden Administration, has come to mean "no news is good news."

But something notable usually emerges that deserves our attention, especially since it's likely to get little attention in the corporate media. That's what happened late yesterday afternoon when it was announced that the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) agreed with the American Federation of Government Employees' (the AFGE is an affiliate of the AFL-CIO) decision to abolish the National ICE Council, the union representing employees of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

There's a lot of acronyms and arcane bureaucratic maneuvering involved. The gist of the story is that the AFGE has long been at odds with the National Ice Council because the employees the Council represents had raised serious concerns about being ordered not to enforce immigration laws they swore to uphold, as well as pointing out serious misconduct by AFGE leadership.

Stephen Dinan at The Washington Times, per usual, does a great job of getting to the heart of a complex story.

The Federal Labor Relations Authority's decision erases the National ICE Council and leaves its 7,600 members, mostly deportation officers, without a collective bargaining agreement or union representation, members said.

The immediate threat here is that it allows DHS leadership to target and terminate ICE whistleblowers because they no longer have union protection. Chris Crane, president of the Council said that this is "the largest single act of whistleblower retaliation in United States history."

'There is no doubt that ICE and DHS leadership worked in unison with corrupt union bosses to make this happen. DHS and AFGE leadership both wanted desperately to silence ICE Council whistleblowers. Without a union, it's doubtful those whistleblowers will have jobs much longer.

'We did what we were supposed to do. We reported to the Department of Labor that union bosses at AFGE were allegedly spending dues money on prostitutes and strippers, sexually assaulting their own employees, engaging in payoffs and coverups, and other unlawful and egregious acts. It was supposed to be investigated. We were supposed to be protected,' [Crane] said.

While having such misbehavior and possible illegalities exposed was embarrassing for the AFGE, many observers, yours truly included, see this as retaliation for the Council being very outspoken about ICE remaining committed to its founding mission, which includes enforcing immigration laws as passed by Congress.

The ICE Council has battled AFGE. It argues that the 700,000-member union doesn't deliver good service to its members and takes stances that are hostile to the members. That includes backing politicians who have called for abolishing ICE, which could effectively end the members' jobs.

The situation came to a head under Sec. Mayorkas, who has ordered ICE officers to effectively cease immigration enforcement. The Council was seeking to disaffiliate itself from the AFGE and reorganize as an independent union. The move to abolish the Council outright makes that more difficult. Dinan writes, "They must now go through a new organization drive and renegotiate a collective bargaining agreement."

This should come as no surprise given that the Biden Administration has shown no interest in enforcing immigration laws or holding AFGE union leaders to account. Its priority is to make sure federal law enforcement officers operate according to the ideology of their political bosses.

And the AFL-CIO leadership, with its outspoken positions on immigration, long ago stopped working in the interests of its members or those of American workers in general. It has essentially adopted the position of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce when it comes to the mass importation of foreign workers and opposition to targeted enforcement against employers who hire illegal aliens.

The Council will now seek to reorganize as the Federal Police Association.

eric ruark, director of research