Nothing is certain when it comes to the long-term impact of the Republicans' strong showing in last week's midterm election. But prevailing opinion is that the GOP reclaiming control of the House of Representatives and narrowing its deficit in the Senate will mean less congressional attention paid to immigration issues related to business.
Iowa Rep. Steve King will likely be the House's next chair of the subcommittee on immigration. King said in a recent interview that he opposes lifting visa caps for lower-skilled foreign workers and would only support more high-skilled workers if he felt they would help improve the U.S. economy.
A Bloomberg article from earlier this month King was quoted saying his priority was enforcement. Specifically, that he wanted to increase taxes for companies found to have hired illegal immigrants.
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the expected next chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said he supports hearings on issues concerning visas for foreign workers. But for 2011 Smith says his desire is that new legislation deal only with border security. "I'm still of the mind we have to secure the border first," he said.
Arizona Senator Jon Kyl (R) was also featured in the Bloomberg piece, saying "there has to be more of an effort to actually secure the border." Kyl will not get behind anything past the border issue until illegal immigration improves in Arizona.
Kyl also stated the country's economic downturn means companies have to realize the immigration debate has changed. "The temporary-worker program has gone backwards in terms of a consensus."
Mary Giovagnoli, who is director of the Immigration Policy Center, says legislation requiring employers to verify the citizenship of their workers has a realistic chance of being passed in the new congress. King and Smith have both supported mandatory use of the "E-Verity" system.
And while King is expected to push legislation with less chance of becoming law - banning birthright citizenship, for example - the result will be a distraction from subjects like the comprehensive immigration reform bill. As Giovagnoli told Mother Jones: "A lot of it is theatrics, really using the bully pulpit of committee majority position to push these things out there and stir things up."
