Conservative immigration activists will lose one of their own next fall, when Virginia Congressman Bob Goodlatte retires from Capitol Hill and vacates his seat as chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, where he has passed a slate of immigration bills that closely align with the Trump administration’s hardline agenda on the issue.
The Virginia Republican announced Thursday he won’t seek re-election next November, a decision he said was mostly related to term restrictions on his current chairmanship.
“With my time as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee ending in December 2018, this is a natural stepping-off point and an opportunity to begin a new chapter of my career and spend more time with my family, particularly my granddaughters,” Goodlatte said in a statement.
Goodlatte worked closely with the White House earlier this year on a pair of bills that complemented the Justice Department’s immigration crackdown and sought to fulfill at least two promises President Trump had made on the campaign trail. The first, “Kate’s Law,” would increase the penalties for illegal aliens who attempt to return to the United States after being deported. The measure was named after Kate Steinle, a California woman killed by an unauthorized immigrant in San Francisco who had been deported from the U.S. multiple times – a story Trump frequently recounted during the 2016 election.
The second bill, known as the “No Sanctuary for Criminals Act,” would strip so-called “sanctuary cities” that shield illegal immigrants from deportation of federal grants in any form. Both bills passed the House in June, after Trump and Goodlatte worked together to nudge congressional Republicans to support each measure.
“It is unlikely that the next Judiciary Committee chairman will be as on board with the Trump immigration agenda,” RJ Hauman, government relations director for the conservative Federation for American Immigration Reform, told the Washington Examiner.
“Therefore it is crucial that the administration works closely with Congress over the next year to implement its immigration policy priorities,” Hauman said.
Center for Immigration Studies executive director Mark Krikorian said Trump’s immigration agenda likely hinges on who replaces Goodlatte on the Judiciary panel, and whether the Virginia congressman can help shepherd a comprehensive immigration reform bill through Congress before he retires.
“He’s been a real champion of tighter immigration enforcement and I don’t expect that to change over the next year. It’s not so much Goodlatte’s departure that could spell trouble, it’s the question of who could replace him,” Krikorian said.
Goodlatte belongs to a working group that has been tasked with devising a legislative solution for undocumented youth protected by the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which the Trump administration plans to ends in early March.
The White House has urged Congress to strike a deal on immigration that features a fix for DACA, enhanced border security measures, and various adjustments to legal immigration.
“The Trump administration has put forth a serious proposal to address the enforcement of our immigration laws and border security,” Goodlatte said in early October, after White House officials released a list of demands for any immigration reform package.
“We cannot fix the DACA problem without fixing all of the issues that led to the underlying problem of illegal immigration in the first place,” he added.
The White House declined to comment on Goodlatte’s retirement.
The 65-year-old lawmaker has sponsored several other pieces of legislation since Trump took office that would boost the capabilities of state and local immigration authorities and make employment verification mandatory nationwide, though GOP leaders have declined to bring either bill to a floor vote.
“Chairman Goodlatte has done his part by passing true immigration reform bills out of the Judiciary Committee, only to see Speaker Ryan not bring them to the floor,” Hauman said, noting that Goodlatte’s seat at the table “as a member of Speaker Ryan’s DACA task force” is reassuring for immigration hardliners like himself.
Who might succeed Goodlatte as chair of the Judiciary Committee is largely unknown at this point, with Democrats’ taking their chances of winning back the House seriously and the likeliest candidate for chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., facing a tough re-election challenge two years after barely defeating his Democratic opponent in 2016.
“If Issa wins re-election, then Issa would be the chairman or he would likely be the next ranking member because at this point, who knows if Republicans are going to keep their majority,” Krikorian mused. “Assuming [the GOP] does hang on, Issa would probably be a less enthusiastic backer of the administration’s immigration agenda.”
Goodlatte and Issa, who heads the Judiciary subcommittee on courts, intellectual property, and the internet, co-sponsored a bill together earlier this year that would substantially increase the annual cap on H-1B visas for highly-skilled workers.
Another close colleague of Goodlatte’s, Texas Republican Lamar Smith, announced his own retirement from the House last week. Like Goodlatte, Smith has backed several measures to curb legal immigration that Trump has strongly praised.
Smith preceded Goodlatte as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and the two co-sponsored a bill earlier this fall to require the use of E-Verify by all U.S. employers.
“Chairman Goodlatte is an ideal member of Congress. He is smart, persistent and always maintains a positive attitude,” Smith said in a statement. “It’s been an honor to serve with him in the Judiciary Committee.”
