after the new year, a decade-long drive to overhaul the immigration
system and legalize some of the estimated 11 million undocumented
migrants seems all but certain to come to a halt.
When
in January, he plans to propose legislation to reverse what he calls an
“obvious lack of urgency” by the Obama administration to secure the
border.
Among other initiatives, King wants to see the
Called the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act and signed into law by President
the bill limited the discretion of U.S. immigration judges and
increased the time that immigrants could be detained while awaiting a
hearing.
As his first order of business, Smith plans to hold
hearings about workplace enforcement and expanding the employee
identification program, E-Verify, which is set to expire in 2012.
Since President
has focused on arresting and deporting illegal immigrants with criminal
records. Under Obama, the total number of deportations is up, and the
percentage of those deported who are considered a threat to public
safety is at a record high.
Arrests of illegal workers at job sites are down,
however, as the Obama administration focuses resources on fining and
prosecuting employers who knowingly hire illegal workers. The goal is
to reduce the demand for illegal labor.
Smith plans to attack Obama’s enforcement strategy.
His staff is preparing to hold hearings to encourage more workplace
raids and to investigate allegations that
“We could free up millions of jobs for Americans and
legal immigrants if we enforced our immigration laws against illegal
workers,” Smith said.
King, whose committee will share jurisdiction on immigration issues, wants the
Any proposals that involve giving status to those
already in the country are “pointless” until the border is better
secured, Smith said.
The Obama administration hired more
The number of illegal immigrants crossing into the
U.S. is down by more than 50 percent from five years ago, to about
300,000 a year, according to a Pew Hispanic Center report released in
September. That is less than the 400,000 people deported each year.
The most recent immigration bill, the DREAM Act, passed the House but did not have enough support in the
to get to a floor vote. It would have created a path to citizenship for
potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants under age 30 who were
brought to this country before age 16 and who had attended college or
served in the military.
Obama said before leaving for his Christmas holiday in
that he would not give up on immigration reform. But facing a
Republican-controlled House and a narrower Democratic majority in the
Still, Obama said he would use his bully pulpit next
year to persuade voters that there were hard-working young people
without immigration status who should remain in the country.
The defeat of the DREAM (Development, Relief and
Education for Alien Minors) Act was “maybe my biggest disappointment,”
Obama told reporters Wednesday.
“I’m going to engage Republicans who, I think, some
of them, in their heart of hearts, know it’s the right thing to do, but
they think the politics is tough for them,” Obama said. “We’ve got to
change the politics.”
Increasing enforcement without creating a path to citizenship is the approach “enshrined in the immigration law written by
said a senior administration official. That approach “doesn’t fix the
problem,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity
because of the sensitivity of the debate.
As the new
both parties have retreated to their corners to regroup on immigration
strategy. Republican strategists are advising
that the November results showed that the party doesn’t need
immigration reform to attract Latino votes, and that Republicans should
stick to a script of talking points on tax cuts and job creation.
“It is a huge mistake to believe that immigration
reform is the single driving force for Hispanic voters,” said longtime
Republican strategist
Democrats see Republican votes against the DREAM Act
as potentially making the difference in districts with emerging Latino
voter populations.
Democratic strategists say that every time
Republican lawmakers push hard on immigration enforcement, they drive
Latino voters away.
In the midterm election, exit polls showed that Latino voters turned out in increased numbers for Democratic Sen.
And in
primary, when she vowed to be as “tough as nails” on illegal
immigration. One in five voters was Latino, and 80 percent of them
voted for Brown. Just 15 percent chose Whitman.
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(c) 2010, Tribune Co.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
