New Congress will be tough on immigration.

• Position: YOUR LIFE

In a number of critical congressional races, in which House of Representative seats flipped from Republican to Democratic hands, the winning candidate took a strong position in favor of immigration enforcement, reports the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), Washington, D.C.

In many races, the winning and losing candidates took remarkably similar stances on the question of immigration policy, thereby eliminating that issue as a deciding factor in the election outcome. Nearly all the winning Democrats who favor a combination of border security and employer sanctions enforcement faced Republicans who took much the same position, points out FAIR. Several freshman Democrats made immigration enforcement and opposition to amnesty and guest worker programs central themes in their campaigns.

"While there may be support for an illegal alien amnesty among the old guard Democrats in Congress, the incoming class of 2006 [to be sworn in this month], which is largely responsible for restoring Democratic control in both Houses, appears to take a very different view of the matter," notes Dan Stein, president of FAIR. "Many of the freshman Democrats are arriving in Washington with a message from the voters back home that controlling the borders and cracking down on employers...