House Republicans have been tiptoeing around immigration this year, with leaders talking up the importance of passing legislation but staying vague on the particulars. But a handful of members have gotten ahead of the pack by embracing a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants—the policy that’s caused the most heartburn on the right.
America’s Voice, a leading immigration advocacy group, pegs the current pro-citizenship cohort at 24 members. That’s far short of the necessary number to pass a bill, but it doesn’t include the various members who are still working out their position. A number of House members have said they’re against a “special path to citizenship,” for example, but haven’t ruled out people attaining citizenship through means available to legal immigrants.
“The criteria is the words ‘path to citizenship,’” Frank Sharry, president of America’s Voice, told MSNBC. “There’s different conditions and caveats for everyone, but they all use the word.”
The makeup of the “24 for citizenship” says a lot about the pressures the pro-immigration side has going for it as well as its limits. Here are some of the broad groups the pro-reform caucus fits into.
The Gang Of Seven
First, there are the Republicans working on a bipartisan immigration bill. This includes Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, a longtime reformer who represents a heavily Cuban district, as well as Texas Reps. John “Judge” Carter and Sam Johnson. The latter two were considered strong border hawks before they signed on to negotiations and their presence is one of the more hopeful signs for passing a bill. Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho dropped out of the group after a dispute over health care for undocumented immigrants, but has said that undocumented immigrants, once legalized, should be able to apply for citizenship through existing channels.
Changing Districts
This is the low hanging fruit for reformers. While the overwhelming majority of House Republicans represent safe districts dominated by white voters, there are a small handful who represent significant Latino and Asian populations. This group includes people like Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman, who succeeded anti-immigration firebrand Tom Tancredo in 2008, but has embraced immigration reform since his district was redrawn to include more moderates and Latinos. Several members in this category are from California: David Valadao, Devin Nunes, Darrell Issa, and Jeff Denham. In New York, Reps. Pete King and Michael Grimm represent growing Latino and Asian populations. Ditto for Nevada’s Joe Heck. Florida’s Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is a longtime advocate for reform.
Ambitious Climbers
Several of the most enthusiastic reformers in the House GOP are in safe seats and don’t really need to worry about protecting their left flank by voting for immigration. But if they don’t back it, their statewide ambitions are likely dead in the water. This category includes Dave Reichert of Washington, Aaron Schock of Illinois, and Mark Amodei of Nevada. All of them have flirted with runs for governor or senator in states with a large Latino or Asian population. You can probably throw Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan in this category, who is perhaps the only member of the House with a plausible chance of being the party’s presidential nominee in 2016. Then there’s Oregon’s Greg Walden, who has significant business interest in his district affected by immigration but is also the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee tasked with electing GOP candidates around the country.
Wait, They’re On The List?









