By JASON L. RILEY
If President Obama pursues comprehensive immigration reform next year, that process will begin in the House Judiciary Committee, and the fact that the incoming chairman is GOP Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia has some immigration reform advocates worried.
"The anti-immigrant organization NumbersUSA scores members of Congress and rarely gives out an A+ grade," wrote immigration attorney Greg Siskind in a recent blog post. "Goodlatte is one of their stars. In fact, he got the highest score in the entire Congress." Mr. Siskind said the appointment may indicate that House Speaker John Boehner isn't serious about moving a bill. "For a man who just said a few weeks ago that he's ready to work with the president on an immigration deal, the Goodlatte appointment in stunning."
I'm not so sure. For starters, Mr. Goodlatte is not known as a restrictionist firebrand in the mold of a Rep. Steve King of Iowa or former Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado. Rather, he's an amiable veteran pol known for his expertise in internet and agriculture policy. Mr. Boehner might have chosen a more pro-immigrant lawmaker for the post, but he also could have done much worse, and Mr. Goodlatte is likely to be better than outgoing GOP chairman Lamar Smith of Texas, whose expertise is recruiting Latino votes for Democrats.
Mr. Goodlatte has been a strong supporter of high-skill immigration and, as a former head of the House Agriculture Committee from 2003 to 2006, is sympathetic to the low-skill labor needs of the farming industry. As for the NumbersUSA report card, my sources say that there haven't been many votes on immigration in recent years, so the group is extrapolating from a relatively small number of bills.
If it turns out that Mr. Goodlatte is not interested in making some constructive changes to our immigration policy, Mr. Boehner is not without options, such as appointing a working group that could bypass the committee. But as things stand, Mr. Goodlatte has stated that immigration reform will be a top priority and he deserves to be taken at his word.
