海角大神

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is expected to hurl a brushback pitch to congressional Democrats on Tuesday when his committee takes up a tough immigration enforcement measure as the House's first official step toward immigration reform.

Specifically, the measure would empower state and local governments to take part in enforcing federal immigration law, and it is expected to pass.聽

Why is Representative Goodlatte taking a step that many Democrats on his committee and immigration advocates see as provocative?聽Just like a fastball, high and inside, it鈥檚 about sending a signal.

Enforcing immigration laws in America鈥檚 interior 鈥渋s the place where we think the Senate bill is absolutely the weakest, and it is the place where, in 1986, there was an easy pathway to citizenship for 3 million people and then enforcement never really happened,鈥� says Goodlatte, referring to the last year in which Congress approved comprehensive immigration reform legislation. 鈥淲e hope this [topic] will be highlighted because we think it鈥檚 been neglected in other places,鈥� he adds.

While Tuesday鈥檚 first pitch is hard to handle and is generating a storm of vituperation from the left, Goodlatte says Republicans aren't singularly interested in hardball. In fact, in the weeks to come, Goodlatte聽plans to move a bill offering a way for some 11 million undocumented people already in the US to become permanent residents and citizens, a central component for immigration reform for his Democratic colleagues.

In the Senate's comprehensive reform bill, a nationwide E-Verify system for determining a prospective employee鈥檚 true identity is the main interior enforcement measure.

By contrast, the House SAFE Act, cosponsored by Goodlatte and Rep. Trey Gowdy (R) of South Carolina, will allow state and local public safety authorities to take on some immigration-enforcement roles. (Other provisions include beefing up the weapons and body armor available to some聽federal聽immigration enforcers.)聽The legislation will be amended and probably approve on Tuesday聽morning in a panel that tilts heavily toward Republicans.

That鈥檚 the controversial approach that had hard-edged application by state governments such as Arizona鈥檚. The state鈥檚 immigration law, known as SB 1070, was struck down in part by the US Supreme Court last year because it attempted to overstep federal immigration authority. GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney endorsed the Arizona law as a model for national immigration policy and was summarily walloped by President Obama among Hispanic voters.

Goodlatte says he understands the passions such proposals stir in Democrats 鈥� but that avoiding a repetition of the 1986 immigration amnesty burns just as hot for Republicans.

Whereas Democrats and immigrant advocates see the House bill as a back-to-the-future moment for Republican politics, Goodlatte sees delegating some enforcement authority away from the federal government as a check on future presidents of either party.

鈥淚f we鈥檙e going to have meaningful immigration reform, it鈥檚 got to include a strong enforcement component, that doesn鈥檛 allow the president of the United States ... [the ability to] flip a switch and say, 鈥榃e鈥檙e not going to enforce this or that area of immigration law,鈥� 鈥� he says.

Will Goodlatte's pitch empty the proverbial benches for an all-out brawl? No punches are being thrown yet, but Democrats and immigration reform advocates are snarling at the lip of the dugout.

Some advocates say Republicans just didn鈥檛 learn their lesson from the 2012 election, with Simon Rosenberg, founder of the New Democratic Network, calling the House bill 鈥渁n ideological necessity for those on the right鈥� who are fighting to rebuild Mr. Romney鈥檚 immigration strategy of 鈥渟elf-deportation鈥� from the ashes of its charring at the Supreme Court and at the ballot box.

Some say Republicans are simply staking out a position for maximum negotiating leverage if or when both chambers pass immigration legislation.

鈥淚 understand the political fallout [from the immigration reform debate], that some of these folks feel like they need cover,鈥� said Tony Martinez, mayor of Brownsville, Texas, a city near the US-Mexico border, in a conference call with reporters on Monday. 鈥淚 certainly understand the political aspect of it. That鈥檚 fine, get it out there. I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 going anywhere.鈥�

But what really concerns Democrats is that the first bill may be a sign of things to come: that is, of a House GOP majority interested only in moving measures that are anathema to the left and that are aimed at blowing up the fragile bipartisan d茅tente over immigration issues on Capitol Hill.

鈥淭he approach this bill takes is dangerous and wrong, and I hope today鈥檚 hearing is not a sign of the direction in which this committee is heading,鈥� said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D) of California, one of seven lawmakers engaged in a bipartisan effort to craft a comprehensive immigration fix in the House, at a hearing on the bill last week.

On Monday, Goodlatte said fears that the immigration process is heading in a partisan direction are misguided.

Having already written bills on many of the major pieces of immigration reform through stand-alone measures 鈥� E-Verify, border security, agricultural workers, high-skilled workers 鈥� Goodlatte says several more bills are in the works and will pass through his committee in weeks to come.

The next batch of bills will include one to provide a framework for legalizing the nation鈥檚 11 million undocumented residents, he says.

Goodlatte, who believes that such a framework could end in citizenship for some of the undocumented, says he鈥檚 looking to Representative Lofgren鈥檚 bipartisan working group of seven lawmakers to help strike the balance on a pathway to citizenship.

But without an agreement from the bipartisan House immigration group 鈥� which has neither broken up nor yet produced a final bill, despite hints of either outcome for several weeks 鈥� Goodlatte is left waiting.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 have the vehicle鈥� to move forward with, he says.

Whatever happens with the bipartisan group, however, he says he will eventually find a legislative ride for the path to citizenship.

You can鈥檛 win, after all, throwing only high and inside.

鈥淲e are definitely interested in addressing that area as well, because we don鈥檛 think that [the interior enforcement] provisions that we鈥檙e working on in this bill, given the Democrats鈥� resistance to them, are likely to become law unless they are a part of a larger overall agreement,鈥� Goodlatte says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 been the plan from the outset, but exactly how the pieces will fit together is still not known.鈥澛�