A key opponent of the push for comprehensive immigration reform has been tapped to chair the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said he has renamed the panel “Immigration and the National Interest,” a move he said is intended as “a declaration to the American people that this subcommittee belongs to them.”
Sessions has been a tireless opponent of proposals that would reform the immigration system by expanding visas, work permits and guest worker programs or create a pathway to citizenship for the millions of illegal immigrants now living here.
Sessions has argued that increased immigration will lower wages, strain the nation’s entitlement system and reduce jobs.
His views often clash with other GOP lawmakers who are in favor of a comprehensive immigration plan, which they say is needed to fix the nation’s broken immigration system and bring those now living here illegally out of the shadows.
Sessions, in a statement released Thursday, said as head of the Judiciary immigration panel, he’ll ensure both sides of the debate are allowed testify at hearings, including immigration officers who have complained that they have not been able to enforce current immigration laws, “and the voice of all Americans who believe we must have a lawful system of immigration they can be proud of and that puts their interests first.”
Earlier this month, Sessions lost his perch atop the Senate Budget Committee after a challenge from fellow Republican Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming.
In addition to the immigration panel, Sessions will also head the Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee. Sessions said he will focus on “ensuring a modernized nuclear arsenal, strengthening our ballistic missile defense programs, advancing our space program … and developing the technology and strategies necessary to deter any aggression, including cyber-attacks, against the United States or her interests.”
