The conservative firebrand from Iowa is seizing a critical moment in the immigration debate. | M.Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO King hits the road on immigration

RICHMOND, Va. — House Republicans have a clear strategy on immigration reform for the August recess: Lie low.

But Rep. Steve King didn’t get the memo.


The conservative firebrand from Iowa — who recently called immigrant children drug mules — is seizing a critical moment in the immigration debate and taking his views on the road to rallies like the one here in the backyard of Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), who is helping to shape immigration policy in the House.

( PHOTOS: Steve King speaks at Tea Party rally)

King hopes to pressure fellow Republicans into staring down any move to give undocumented immigrants legal status.

He began his nearly half-hour speech here arguing against immigration reform, claiming societies tend to become more violent as one moves farther south in Latin America.

“Now think what that is,” King said to the 60 or so attendees at the rally. “If you bring people from a violent civilization into a less-violent civilization, you’re going to have more violence right? It’s like pouring hot water into cold water, does it raise the temperature or not?”

( WATCH: Sen. Cruz says immigration bill “headed to failure”)

Republican leaders — eager not to further alienate Hispanic voters — argue they’ve done all they can to shut up King.

“What he said does not reflect the values of the American people or the Republican Party,” said House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) after one of King’s recent statements.

But Republican leaders haven’t stepped up with a louder voice on the issue, leaving a vacuum King has been happy to fill. During the long recess weeks — when bills often either pick up momentum or stall — King is emerging as the Republican Party’s de facto spokesman on immigration reform — and he’s using his megaphone to crush it.

King told POLITICO that he wasn’t directing a specific message toward his leadership, despite entering Cantor’s home turf. He just believes that he is a man standing on principle while many of his fellow Republicans “have had a spell cast over them” following the 2012 elections, in which the GOP took a drubbing among the Latino electorate.

( WATCH: McConnell says immigration bill has ‘serious flaws’)

“A year ago, almost everybody in my conference agreed with me,” King said in an interview. “There’s been no spell cast over me.”

Republican leaders are reluctant to talk about King’s broader role in the immigration reform fight. Cantor’s office declined to comment specifically on the rally in his neighborhood Monday, instead pointing to the No. 2 House Republican’s recent Fox News interview in which he said the House’s approach to the issue would be a “lot more deliberative and smart” than the Senate’s.

The groups participating in Monday’s rally plan to hit several other states in the coming weeks to send a similar message. Though details are not yet finalized, the so-called Stop Amnesty Tour will also wind through Harrisburg, Pa.; Dallas; Toledo, Ohio; and South Carolina during the August recess. King hopes to attend those rallies, too. Other groups involved in the effort include Tea Party Patriots and Eagle Forum.

“Don’t go into the trap. If you do go into the trap, what you’re going to do is to turn your back to millions of Americans,” said Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, a group that favors reduced immigration and one of the leaders of Monday’s rally. “Focus on putting these people back to work, not making them compete with more foreign workers.”

Meanwhile, immigration reform doesn’t appear to be a top priority for House Republican leaders, who spent the final days and weeks before the recess voting on more symbolic bills, such as repealing the health care law and targeting the Internal Revenue Service.

A pre-recess document from the House Republican Conference meant to help the rank and file craft their message during the August break focuses on a slew of topics, but not immigration. According to a copy of the document obtained by The Washington Post, House Republicans instead steer their attention toward health care, government oversight, the economy and energy issues.

House Republican leaders have spoken about immigration only when asked during the August recess. For example, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy of California, the third-ranking House Republican and a major target of pro-reform groups, spoke favorably of legalization — though not citizenship — in an appearance in Newport Beach, Calif., according to The Daily Pilot.

King found himself in hot water last month when he dismissed so-called DREAMers — undocumented immigrants brought here as children — as more likely to be drug smugglers than high school valedictorians.

Despite being forcefully rebuked by all corners of the Republican Party, King has repeatedly defended those remarks — and his crusade against immigration reform doesn’t appear to have been dampened by those controversial comments.

Still, while King may be alone in using sharp rhetoric on immigration, he’s not alone in his policy views.

King has been leading weekly meetings of House Republicans who are dead-set against immigration reform and are mapping out strategy on how to act when the chamber takes up immigration measures, most likely in September or October. Unanswered is how large this bloc of Republicans is and whether it will be enough to prevent the majority from passing immigration bills, particularly if Democrats don’t help.

In King’s camp are Republicans such as Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks, who said he has already told House Republican leaders that he plans to vote against the so-called “rule” on any immigration bill that comes to the floor this fall. Voting for the rule allows legislation to be brought to the House floor, and Brooks said he wants to prevent any immigration bills from being taken up by the full House.

“Nothing good can come of the House passing a bill that the Senate can then manipulate,” Brooks said.

And other House Republicans are skittish about doing any other immigration reform bills aside from border security and perhaps other enforcement measures, such as a mandatory worker verification system for all employers. In a recent interview, Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) said no other bills should be taken up this year, saying doing so would be “harmful” and will “make this matter worse.”

Still, two House committees have passed five bills overhauling different components of the immigration system. And Cantor and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) are writing legislation that would craft a path to legal status for young undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.

That type of measure appears to have support from a broad swath of the conference. But the Cantor-led effort focusing on undocumented children — tentatively titled the Kids Act — causes chagrin among several conservatives who oppose any type of legalization.

Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), who has frequently clashed with leadership and did not vote for Boehner as speaker earlier this year, said he was “disappointed” with the top Republicans’ efforts to move forward with legalization efforts focused on undocumented children. He opposes any pathway to citizenship for immigrants living in the United States illegally, he said.

“They need to listen to the American people,” Jones said of leadership shortly before the August recess. “The people of this country, they might be split half and half, but there is a rule of law and if you try to short-circuit the rule of law, you’re making a mistake for the future of America.”

Pro-reform advocates dismiss the notion that King’s rhetoric and influence will eclipse the immigration reform debate during the all-important August recess.

Immigration advocacy groups have been out in full force in key districts, and a handful of House Republicans have made statements supportive of a pathway to citizenship under certain strict conditions, including Washington Rep. Dave Reichert, Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock and Florida Rep. Dan Webster.

Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, argued that those are the opinions that really matter in the reform debate, adding: “The Steve King caucus is not growing.”

“Every single week, there are a handful of House Republicans saying that ‘I support immigration reform,’” Noorani said. “In order to win leadership, you win the conference. And the conference is moving toward supporting immigration reform.”