He wanted it in 1994, saying that the nation needed to get tough on illegal immigration.
But the chairmanship of the House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement went to someone else.
Now, 16 years later, Rep. Elton Gallegly, a California Republican who boasts on his congressional website that he is one of the top illegal "immigration hawks" in Congress, and that he was inducted into the U.S. Border Control Hall of Fame, has taken the helm of the subcommittee.
On Friday, House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, announced that Gallegly, 66, was the subcommittees new chairman.
Galleglys selection was a surprise, given that Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, had been the ranking member of the subcommittee when the Democrats controlled the House, and he had been considered the heir apparent.
He expressed those views in his characteristic unvarnished way, saying, for instance, that undocumented youth are not the innocent bystanders their defenders describe them as being, and that he wanted to see tear-jerker stories left out of discussions about immigration.
And that, multiple sources familiar with the chairman selection process say, is what played a large part in torpedoing his appointment to the top post.
Speaking privately, they said there was discomfort over King's flamboyance and his near ubiquity in the press, where he spoke about future immigration debates with the tone of a chairman.
While King, 61, made waves with his views and rhetoric on immigration even, at times, in the GOP -- Gallegly has been less vocal. However, the subcommittee promises to be no less aggressive on how to deal with the undocumented and the U.S. border.
Gallegly has introduced, or been a key part of, some of the most controversial immigration measures in Congress.
Longtime Immigration Hawk Gets Post - Fox News Latino
But the chairmanship of the House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement went to someone else.
Now, 16 years later, Rep. Elton Gallegly, a California Republican who boasts on his congressional website that he is one of the top illegal "immigration hawks" in Congress, and that he was inducted into the U.S. Border Control Hall of Fame, has taken the helm of the subcommittee.
On Friday, House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, announced that Gallegly, 66, was the subcommittees new chairman.
Galleglys selection was a surprise, given that Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, had been the ranking member of the subcommittee when the Democrats controlled the House, and he had been considered the heir apparent.
He expressed those views in his characteristic unvarnished way, saying, for instance, that undocumented youth are not the innocent bystanders their defenders describe them as being, and that he wanted to see tear-jerker stories left out of discussions about immigration.
And that, multiple sources familiar with the chairman selection process say, is what played a large part in torpedoing his appointment to the top post.
Speaking privately, they said there was discomfort over King's flamboyance and his near ubiquity in the press, where he spoke about future immigration debates with the tone of a chairman.
While King, 61, made waves with his views and rhetoric on immigration even, at times, in the GOP -- Gallegly has been less vocal. However, the subcommittee promises to be no less aggressive on how to deal with the undocumented and the U.S. border.
Gallegly has introduced, or been a key part of, some of the most controversial immigration measures in Congress.
Longtime Immigration Hawk Gets Post - Fox News Latino
