• State and Local Enforcement of Immigration Law.  a Migration Policy Institute (MPI) panel presentation titled, "Delegation and Divergence: 287(g) State and Local Immigration Enforcement";

• Southwest Border Enforcement.  a speech in El Paso, Texas by Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano during which she will address the Department of Homeland Security's efforts to secure the southwest border;

• North Korean Refugees.  a Peterson Institute for International Economics discussion and release of a report titled "Witness to Transformation: Refugee Insights into North Korea"; and

• Mandatory Use of E-Verify.  a National Immigration Law Center (NILC) briefing on the potential impact of a mandatory verification system on U.S. workers, businesses and the economy. 
  

• ABC - This Week.  The January 30, 2011, edition of  ABC's "This Week" program was supposed to have featured interviews with former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA), as well as interviews with Ron Reagan, Michael Reagan, and Patty Davis, the three surviving children of the late President Ronald Reagan.  That lineup of guests has been scrapped in favor of inteviews with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Egyptian Ambassador to the U.S. Sameh Shoukry, and National Security Adviser to former President Carter Zbigniew Brzezinski.  Participating in the roundtable segment of the program will be ABC's George F. Will; former ABC News Anchor and White House Correspondent Sam Donaldson; Al Jazeera Washington Bureau Chief Abderrahim Foukara; ABC News Senior Foreign Correspondent Martha Raddatz; and ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper.

• CBS - Face the Nation.  Among the guests appearing on the January 30, 2011, edition of CBS's "Face the Nation" will be new White House Chief of Staff William Daley and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.  Given the lineup of guests and the events that are unfolding in the Middle East,  it is unlikely that the subject of immigration will come up during the program.

• CNN - State of the Union.  Among the guests on the January 30, 2011, edition of CNN's "State of the Union" program will be Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; former U.S. Ambassador to Egypt, Edward S. Walker; former US Ambassador to the United Nations John Negroponte; Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Republican John McCain (R-AZ); Senator Charles S. Schumer (D-NY); and former Senator Alan K. Simpson (R-WY), who most recently served as co-chair of President Barack Obama's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.
  

• FOX - FOX News Sunday.  Among the guests appearing on the January 30, 2011, edition of FOX's "FOX News Sunday" will be Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) and Secretary of State Hillary Rodhman Clinton.  Appearing this week during the roundtable segment of the program will be Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard and Fox News; Nina Easton of Fortune Magazine and Fox News; Fox News Senior Political Analyst Brit Hume; and Kirsten Powers of the New York Post and Fox News.  Given the lineup of guests, it is possible, though not likely, that the subject of immigration will come up during the program. 

• NBC - Meet the Press.  Appearing on the January 30, 2011, edition of NBC's "Meet the Press" will be Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Also appearing on the program will be former Mideast negotiator and Ambassador to Israel for President Clinton, Martin Indyk,  and New York Times Columnist, Tom Friedman.  Apppearing during the roundtable segment of the program will be Republican strategist, Mike Murphy; former Tennessee congressman and Chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, Harold Ford; NBC’s Chief White House Correspondent and Political Director, Chuck Todd; and Washington Correspondent for the BBC, Katty Kay.

The partisan logjam over proposed rules changes has been broken, enabling the Senate Democratic and Republican leadership to assign returning and freshmen senators to committees.  

Among the committees that had their rosters filled for the 112^th Congress last week were the three Senate committees that have primary authorizing and appropriating jurisdiction over the federal government’s interior immigration enforcement, border security, visa security, immigration service, refugee admissions, overseas refugee assistance, and refugee resettlement agencies, functions, programs, and activities: the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and Senate Committee on Appropriations.

Partisan Ratios on Committees.  The rosters of each of the three committees that have primary jurisdiction over immigration, border, and refugee matters have undergone significant change. While Democrats will maintain a majority on each of the three panels, the ratio of Democrats-to-Republicans has been reduced substantially on them due to the Democrats’ loss of six seats in the 2010 mid-term elections.  For instance, the partisan ratio on the Senate Committee on the Judiciary goes from 12-Democrats-to-7-Republicans during the 111th Congress to 10-Democrats-to-8-Republicans during the 112th Congress.  The partisan ratio on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations goes from 11-Democrats-to-8-Republicans during the 111th Congress to 10-Democrats-to-9-Republicans.  And the partisan ratio on the Senate Committee on Appropriations goes from 18-Democrats-to-12-Republicans during the 111th Congress to a ratio of 16-Democrats-to-14-Republicans during the 112th Congress.

Leadership Changes on the Committees.  Only one of the three key committees will see changes in their leadership during the 112th Congress.  The new Ranking Minority Member on the Senate Committee on the Judiciary is expected to be Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), who will replace Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) as the top Republican on the committee.  Senator Grassley's record on immigration and refugee matters in recent years has been very similar to that of Senator Sessions, in that they both have rarely voted in favor of the pro-immigrant advocacy community's positions on a key, contested immigration-related floor vote.  However, unlike Senator Sessions, Senator Grassley's record on immigration has undergone somewhat of a transformation.  Grassley was first elected to the Senate in 1980.  Prior to September 11, 2011, he supported the positions of the pro-immigrant advocacy community in about 20 percent of the key, contested floor votes that he had cast.  Since then, however, he has only supported the pro-immigrant advocacy community's positions in about 3.7 percent of such votes.

Freshman Committee Assignments.  Freshmen are well represented on the Republican side of the aisle on the three key committees.  Indeed, eight of the 13 freshman Republican senators who were elected in the 2010 mid-term elections have landed on at least one of the three Senate committees that have primary jurisdiction over immigration- and refugee-related matters.  On the Democratic side of the aisle, two of the three freshman Democrats who were elected to the Senate in the 2010 mid-term elections landed on one or more of the three key committees.

The charts that follow show freshman senators who have been appointed to one or more of the three key Senate committees that have jurisdiction over immigration, border, and refugee matters:

Freshmen on the Senate Committee
on the Judiciary

Freshmen on the Senate Committee
on Foreign Relations
 

Freshmen on the Senate Committee
on Appropriations

Freshman Senators' Positions on Immigration.  All but one of the eight freshman Republicans who have been assigned to one or more of the three key immigration- and refugee-related Senate committees have records from past service in elected office or took positions during their Senate campaigns that strongly support the positions of the immigration restrictionist advocacy community and strongly oppose the positions of the pro-immigrant advocacy community.  The sole exception among the eight freshman senators is Senator John Hoeven (R-ND), who made it through his 2010 Senate campaign without making his views on immigration clear.

Veteran Senators Newly Assigned to Key Committees.  Not all of the newly assigned members of the three key Senate committees are freshmen.  Three Senate veterans were newly assigned to one of the key committees, as well.

The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Committee gets two veteran senators who are new to the panel:

• Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL)
• Senator Tom Udall (D-NM)

•  Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

Next Steps.  Under Senate practices, the assignment of senators to committees does not officially take place until the Senate adopts an organizing resolution.  The Senate could adopt that resolution as soon as next week.  Once that occurs, the Committees will be free to organize, assigning its members to subcommittees.

A House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on worksite immigration enforcement highlights this week's immigration- and refugee-related legislative activity:

• Immigration and Refugee-Related Hearings.  This week's January 26, 2011, hearing on worksite immigration enforcement in the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Enforcement and Policy will be the first immigration hearing chaired by newly annointed Chairman Elton Gallegly (R-CA) and the new GOP House majority.  Among those testifying at the hearing will be a Deputy Director of the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) bureau, two witnesses from the immigration restrictionist-leaning Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and a witness from the CATO Institute.  Look for Republicans to attempt to paint the Obama Administration as lax on immigration enforcement and blame high rates of unemployment among American citizens on that alleged lack of enforcement.  Democrats, on the other hand, are likely to contend that the Administration is removing record numbers of illegal aliens, stress that enforcement-only efforts will actually cost American jobs rather than save them.

• Immigration- and Refugee-Related Floor Action.  Aside from Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the only significant floor action that is scheduled this week will occur in the House, which on Tuesday will take up a resolution setting the stage for rolling back fiscal year 2011 "non-security" discretionary spending to fiscal year 2008 levels.  The resolution is non-binding and does not contain any specific immigration or refugee language.  However, if Congress were to follow through on the measure and actually enact appropriations bills making such cuts, it would result in hundreds of millions of dollars of cuts in spending on refugee admissions, assistance, and resettlement programs, as well as significant cuts in programs that assist trafficking victims, torture victims, and unaccompanied alien children.
  

• Organizational Matters.  The House and Senate are expected to step-up their efforts to organize themselves, with key decisions likely to made relating to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Appropriations, House Committee on Homeland Security.

• ABC - This Week.  The January 23, 2011, edition of  ABC's "This Week" program will feature interviews with three senators who this week announced their retirement from the Senate: Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Kent Conrad (D-ND), and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX).  Particiapting in the roundtable segment of the program will be ABC's George F. Will; New York Times Columnist Paul Krugman; former George W. Bush political strategist Matthew Dowd; and Democratic strategist Donna Brazile. It is uncertain to what degree the subject of immigration will come up during the program.

• CBS - Face the Nation.  Among the guests appearing on the January 23, 2011, edition of CBS's "Face the Nation" will be Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Chairman Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Senator John McCain (R-AZ).  Given the lineup of guests, the subject of immigration could come up during the program.

• CNN - State of the Union.  Among the guests on the January 23, 2011, edition of CNN's "State of the Union" program will be former Secretary of State Colin Powell.  It is uncertain whether the subject of immigration will come up during the program.
  

• FOX - FOX News Sunday.  Among the guests appearing on the January 23, 2011, edition of FOX's "FOX News Sunday" will be Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Assistant Senate Minority Leader Richard Durbin (D-IL).  Appearing this week during the roundtable segment of the program will be Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard and Fox News; Mara Liasson of National Public Radio and Fox News; Fox News Senior Political Analyst Brit Hume; and Fox News Political Analyst Juan Williams.  Given the lineup of guests, it is possible that the subject of immigration will come up during the program. 

• NBC - Meet the Press.  Appearing on the January 23, 2011, edition of NBC's "Meet the Press" will be House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA).  Appearing during the program's roundtable segment will be Assistant House Democratic Leader James Clyburn (D-SC); Karen Hughes, former advisor to President George W. Bush; John Podesta, former White House Chief of Staff under President Bill  Clinton; Ron Brownstein, Political Director for Atlantic Media; and CNBC's Erin Burnett.  Given the lineup of guests, it appears unlikely that the subject of immigration will come up during the program.

In addition to overhauling the name, size, and party ratio on the subcommittee that has jurisdiction over immigration, the subcommittee’s roster also underwent major change.   Gone from the Subcommittee on the Republican side of the aisle are Representatives Gregg Harper (R-MS) and Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), who sat on the panel during the 111^th Congress.  Added to the Subcommittee on the GOP side of the aisle are Representatives Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Harold Gowdy (R-SC), and Dennis A. Ross (R-FL).  

The Democratic roster underwent significant change, as well.  Gone from the Subcommittee for the Democrats are Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA), the sponsor of both the DREAM Act and the AgJOBS bill; Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Immigration Task Force and was the sponsor of the CIR ASAP bill; Linda T. Sanchez (D-CA); Anthony D. Weiner (D-NY; Charles A. Gonzalez (D-TX); and Judy Chu (D-CA).  Democrats did not name any new Members to the Subcommittee.

Below is the lineup of the re-minted House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement:
 

House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration
Policy and Enforcement

The newly reconstituted immigration subcommittee will get to test out its wings next week, when it is scheduled to hold a hearing on worksite immigration enforcement.  The hearing is scheduled for 3:00 pm EST on Wednesday, January 26.

  
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