Could the Next House Speaker Do More on Immigration Reform?
Bloomberg reports on the possibilities of immigration reform with a new Speaker of the House of Representatives. With Speaker John Boehner‘s imminent retirement, the conventional wisdom is that House Majority Leader, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), will take his place. “
McCarthy would seem to have an interest in moving forward with immigration reform. His district, based in Bakersfield, California, is 35 percent Latino and heavily dependent on migrant labor for agriculture. But McCarthy has voted against the DREAM Act, voted to defund President Obama’s deferred action programs, and voted to end “sanctuary cities.” However, at one point, McCarthy reportedly expressed support for a path to legalization for eligible undocumented immigrants.
McCarthy’s official House website says the following on immigration:
“As a nation founded by immigrants, we should to continue embrace the individuals who wait in line and come to the United States legally to work hard and contribute to our society. However, we should not provide any amnesty that would benefit those who defy our laws and enter the United States illegally. In order to reduce the number of illegal immigrants in our country, we must enforce the laws that already exist. In order to do this, we must secure our border by using both physical as well as electronic barriers. We should also ensure that illegal immigrants are not receiving any of the benefits that are reserved for American Citizens.”
The Washington Post looks at McCarthy’s record and chances for ascendancy to the Speaker post here.
One of the more interesting tidbits about McCarthy is unrelated to immigration. New York Magazine reports that Kevin Spacey studied McCarthy while preparing for his role in House of Cards. When Spacey was preparing for the first season of House of Cards, his character, Frank Underwood, was still just a lowly House majority whip — as was Kevin McCarthy. So to put himself into the head of a career politician, Spacey followed McCarthy around the Capitol for several days.
KJ