In our last issue, we were in the middle of a presidential campaign. And immigration was a hot issue. The question at the time was whether Mitt Romney, who had taken some of the toughest immigration positions in modern times in the Republican primaries, could pivot back enough to the center on immigration to avoid a historic low level of support from Hispanic voters. Alas, Romney got the lowest vote ever recorded for Hispanic voters which was combined with Hispanic voters increasing their overall percentage of the electorate from 9% to 10%.

Pundits credited this dismal performance with Hispanic voters as probably the single most significant (and avoidable) factor in Romney losing a race to a President facing rough economic conditions that should have made re-election difficult. It's not surprising then that many leading voices in the GOP have called for the party to embrace comprehensive immigration reform and abandon the anti-immigration positions that many believe have permanently ruined its brand with Hispanic voters.

Whether those influential voices - including people like John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Sean Hannity, Charles Krauthammer, Jeb Bush and Karl Rove - will carry the day remains to be seen. Just this past week we learned that Bob Goodlatte, a former immigration lawyer who has transformed himself in to the Congressman with the highest anti-immigration ratings in all of Congress (according to NumbersUSA), would be the new head of the Judiciary Committee, the committee that will be responsible for shepherding through comprehensive immigration reform legislation. And Congressman Lamar Smith, the current Judiciary Chair, pushed through STEM legislation benefiting certain highly educated immigrants, but did it at the expense of the diversity visa program, something he knew would antagonize the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Neither move is exactly going to improve the Republican brand with Hispanic voters.

In the meantime, negotiations between Republicans and Democrats is happening behind the scenes on a major immigration reform bill set to be introduced when the new Congress is sworn in early in 2013. That will no doubt be THE immigration story of 2013 and we will follow it closely here, on our blogs and on our web site at www.visalaw.com.

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Regards,