Why immigration hawks favor Kevin McCarthy for speaker
Mark Thies
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Republicans narrowly won control of the House, and Kevin McCarthy is the odds-on favorite to become the next speaker.
Whatever qualms Republican base voters may have about McCarthy’s commitment to their causes, they can breathe a collective sigh of relief when it comes to immigration.
AS TITLE 42 ENDS, 68% OF PEOPLE WANT IMMIGRANTS TO “REMAIN IN MEXICO”
Previous congressional GOP leaders catered to the whims of Big Business and defied the wishes of everyday Republican voters on immigration policy. McCarthy, by welcome contrast, has credibly promised to pass legislation that secures the border and reduces illegal employment, thus relieving the pressure on disadvantaged American workers.
Americans broadly want reforms along these very lines. Immigration was the third-most important issue (tied with climate change) for midterm voters, trailing only the economy and abortion, according to the AP Votecast exit poll. And among voters who said immigration was the most important issue, 88% favored the GOP — a clear indication that Republicans have an overwhelming advantage on immigration policy. For instance, Rasmussen polling conducted in mid-November shows that Americans oppose offering amnesty and lifetime work permits to illegal immigrants by a 54-37 margin, and Republicans oppose it by a 78-17 margin.
Despite such favorable polling, previous GOP leaders squandered this political advantage by repeatedly going against their base.
During the Obama era, then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor infamously joined Democrats in supporting the “Gang of Eight” bill that would have awarded amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. Cantor’s stance was so toxic that he lost his next primary to an upstart, underfunded challenger who made the betrayal the focal point of his campaign.
In 2018, then-House Speaker Paul Ryan deliberately undermined a bill that would have accomplished nearly every conservative immigration reform — from funding the border wall and mandating the use of E-Verify to eliminating the diversity visa lottery and revamping the fraud-ridden asylum system.
Fortunately, it seems that Kevin McCarthy has no intention of imitating his predecessors’ mistakes. He has already promised not to trade an amnesty for token border-security measures, explaining that you’ve got to “fix the border to start out before you can deal with immigration.”
And so far, he has given every indication of following through on his promise. Just before Thanksgiving, McCarthy headed to the southern border, where he decried the chaos and reiterated his previous calls for Alejandro Mayorkas, the open-borders zealot in charge of the Department of Homeland Security, to resign or face impeachment by House Republicans.
The trip represents at least the fourth time the presumptive speaker has visited the border in as many years — a sharp contrast with Biden, who hasn’t visited the border once despite presiding over the highest levels of illegal immigration ever recorded. Under the current administration, the United States has already witnessed more than 3 million illegal border crossings and 900,000 known “got-aways” — with new arrivals from over 160 countries.
In this current political situation — with Democrats still controlling the Senate and White House, and Republicans only holding a narrow majority in the House — previous generations of GOP leaders would be sorely tempted to offer a donor-pleasing, wage-depressing amnesty deal in exchange for some fig-leaf border security measures.
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Thankfully, for ordinary Republican voters, Kevin McCarthy seems cut from a different cloth. He realizes that amnesty is an electoral landmine, while common-sense immigration restrictions are an electoral winner. And he’s promised to make these restrictions the centerpiece of the House GOP agenda.
If he does, he’ll undoubtedly become the most popular Republican congressional leader in decades.
Mark Thies, Ph.D., is an engineering professor at Clemson University whose research is focused on energy and sustainability.