By ANNA PALMER and MANU RAJU | 4/16/13 7:14 PM EDT
politico.com


Rubio's spokesman says the ICE meeting was 'productive.' | AP Photo

Republican members of the Senate Gang of Eight are continuing to meet with outside interest groups even as the senators prepare to introduce the massive immigration bill.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) met with Chris Crane, head of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents union, Monday evening for about an hour.

Rubio’s spokesman Alex Conant confirmed the meeting, saying that Rubio “had been interested in hearing their concerns and it was a productive meeting.”

Crane has been frustrated that his union has not had more input as lawmakers negotiated the immigration overhaul. He has also voiced concern about President Barack Obama not responding for his request for a meeting on immigration reform. The union is comprised of more than 7,000 ICE officers, agents and staff.

Democratic sources said Crane held a conference call two weeks ago with reporters just before Republican senators forced the staff to beef up the interior enforcement provisions. However, Republicans privately downplayed their role.

Crane said that while he appreciated meeting with Rubio it did not assuage his concerns.

“Respectfully, talking for an hour about a 1,000 page bill that we’ve never seen– a bill that we are told is almost final – doesn’t do anything to resolve our concerns unless it is followed by an opportunity to provide specific legislative input,” Crane said. He has asked for a fill briefing of the legislative text so the enforcement community can provide feedback.

“From what I know about the bill thus far, it is greatly lacking in terms of enforcement and in terms of providing for public safety,” he said. “My request still stands, and that is for the Gang of 8 to delay the filing of this bill until law enforcement officers from ICE can have their public safety and enforcement concerns addressed.”

Republican Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Lindsay Graham (S.C.) also met Tuesday afternoon with about a dozen outside immigration reform activists representing faith-based groups, non-profits, and Latino groups.

“Obviously, what they are looking for is support for their efforts,” said Daniel Garza, who was in the meeting. Garza is executive director of LIBRE, a center-right group that focuses on economic prosperity for Hispanics in the U.S. “What they did was detail and highlighted some of the portions.”

Garza said the meeting was very free-flowing with a lot of back and forth between participants.

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