Republican leaders in Congress say that immigration reform will take a back seat to improved border security on their legislative agenda for 2017, reports Bloomberg. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters, “I don’t think anything changes on immigration until we secure the border.”
McCarthy said the House might start with a measure that authorizes $1 billion a year for the Department of Homeland Security to gain operational control of the border in the U.S. Southwest. GOP leaders in the Senate also put border enforcement at the top of their list, said Bloomberg. “We need to secure the border and we need to enforce the law in regards to people with criminal records who are illegally in this country,” said Texas Sen. John Cornyn, No. 2 in GOP leadership. “And then we can have a further conversation.”
The Trump transition website says when the United States has ended illegal immigration, “we will be in a position to consider the appropriate disposition of those who remain.”
Farm groups backed the comprehensive immigration reform bill passed by the Senate in 2013. It was derailed by House Republicans. The reform bill included a special pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who worked in agriculture. Since then, there have been suggestions to create a legal status for undocumented workers. “Trump would have to take the lead,” Bloomberg says, for legal status to become a legislative option.