Rep. Michael Rogers (R-AL)

Congressman Rogers, a Republican from Alabama, is very interested in immigration issues and border security. He serves on the Homeland Security Committee and largely views immigration reform through the lens of tougher enforcement of labor laws (e.g., federally mandated use of E-Verify), stronger border security to prevent illegal crossing, greater restrictions on who becomes an American citizen (i.e., denying citizenship to children born in the United State of foreign nationals), a determined stance against "amnesty," and measures that will ensure English remains the primary language of the United States. It seems very unlikely that he would vote for the DREAM Act if it were ever voted on in the House of Representatives.

This is the official statement of Congressman Rogers on immigration found on his official website:

"As most folks agree, our entire immigration process is broken. Thousands of illegal immigrants cross our borders each year, which brings into question our ability to secure our nation from those who wish us harm. As a result, to effectively deal with the immigration concerns in the United States we must, first and foremost, control our borders. Otherwise anything else we might do would simply be ineffective.

Without protecting and controlling our border, not only can illegal immigrants find their way in to our country, but so can terrorists and illegal drugs. We know that individuals from countries with terrorist links have tried to cross our border. And also Mexican drug gangs are crossing our border and committing violent crimes in the U.S. We must gain control of our borders. I support building a fence along our porous Southwest border with Mexico and the hiring of more Border Patrol and ICE agents. Congress should do more.

We must protect our homeland and as a Member of the Homeland Security Committee, I will continue working to make this a reality.

Lastly, I strongly oppose any form of amnesty. We are a nation of laws and we would send the wrong message if we were to merely give amnesty to those who openly disregard our laws."

Much greater insight into his thinking on immigration can be gleaned from from the various bills he has sponsored or co-sponsored throughout his career on the issue of immigration and border security since coming into congress in 2003, as well as from his stance during the attempts made to pass immigration reform in Bush's second term.

After the last attempt to pass immigration reform in 2007, Rogers issued a press release expressing relief that CIR had not become law:

“I am relieved, but not surprised, the immigration bill did not pass in the Senate. The bill would have granted amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, while not doing enough to fully secure our porous borders with Mexico and Canada.

“But the defeat of this bill does not let Congress off the hook. Our nation’s borders remain in crisis, and the bill’s demise now provides Congress a new opportunity to pass strong border security legislation.

“I hope members on both sides of the aisle renew their efforts to work together on a new border security bill this year. Our top priority must be to first secure our borders and enforce the existing laws on the books, and then turn our attention to overall immigration reform. Without control of our borders, no immigration reform plan will work.”

Rogers is a member of the Homeland Security Committee and views immigration largely as a problem of border security and seems to have little sympathy for undocumented people in this country. He is also, as mentioned in his official statement on immigration and in the press release above, diametrically opposed to any form of "amnesty," which most probably means he will oppose any CIR bill that would allow people here without papers to adjust by paying a fine or some other method.

In an article linked on his website and published on April 14, 2008, Rodgers put forward his own ideas about how to conduct "immigration reform." Here is a summary quoted from that article: "The bill would increase spending on workplace enforcement of immigration laws and require employers to verify workers' status through a Department of Homeland Security database, which currently is voluntary." No mention was made of making a provision for people already here to adjust their status, whether by paying fines or some other measure. Instead the focus was entirely on enforcement.

Further insight can be found from the more salient bills and resolutions he has signed onto. Most of Rogers's sponsored bills and resolutions relating to immigration deal with enhancing border security, conducting outreach to secure the border with local law enforcement and the private sector, and recruiting, training and retaining border-patrol agents. Only one sponsored bill dealt directly with undocumented immigrants in this country, a measure requiring Homeland Security to compile statistics on how many people are in the country without papers ( H.R.4307 [2005])

In addition, Congressman Rogers has signed on to a number of other bills and resolutions that give much greater insight into his probably stance on the DREAM Act. The more salient of these deal with a number of immigration issues. For instance, he co-sponsored two resolutions that proposed a constitutional amendment to end the counting of undocumented immigrants in the census (H.J.RES.11 [2009], H.J.RES.53 [2005]). Another measure he repeatedly co-sponsored aimed to make English the official language of the country and the uniform language for naturalization purposes (H.R.997 [2007], H.R.997 [2005]). He co-sponsored various resolutions praising or defending the border patrol and its agents (H.CON.RES.37 [2007], H.RES.1030 [2006]). He supported legislation aiming to end the diversity lottery program on two different occasions (H.R.1219 [2005], H.R.775 [2003]). He co-sponsored a bill that would seek the help of state and local law enforcement to enforce immigration law (H.R.3137 [2005]). He supported legislation--possibly aimed in part at forms of identification like the matricula--that prohibited the government from accepting as legal identification for foreign nationals any type of identification that was not a foreign passport (H.R.687 [2003]). But perhaps most significant for his possible stance on the DREAM Act was a bill he cosponsored in 2005 that aimed "to deny citizenship at birth to children born in the United States of parents who are not citizens or permanent resident aliens" (H.R.698 [2005]). This latter bill strongly suggests he would lack sympathy for the plight of undocumented children who had lived most of their lives in the United States, were totally assimilated and acclimated to American culture and values, and had spent all or most of their childhood in American schools--i.e., the potential beneficiaries of the DREAM Act.

In spite of all this, Congressman Rogers does have a strong record supporting bills and resolutions that promote African-American civil rights and praise leaders of the civil rights movement. His compassion in that regard suggests that there is a slight--probably very slight--chance that he could be won to support the DREAM Act.

As of the second revision of this entry, official confirmation of Rogers's stance on the DREAM Act has yet to be made with his office.