Trump tells House Republicans he wants border wall, immigration funds

By Billy House, Stephanie Lai and Alicia Diaz  President Donald Trump told House Republicans that he hoped they would pass legislation funding the completion of the border wall and stepped up deportation efforts as part of an ambitious agenda that includes extending his signature tax cuts and enabling more oil and gas production. 

“I’m looking forward to working with Congress on a reconciliation bill that financially takes care of our plans to totally and permanently restore the sovereign borders of the United States once and for all,” Trump said Monday as he addressed GOP lawmakers gathered at his Doral resort in Miami.

 

Trump said he wanted “full funding for a record increase in border security personnel and retention bonuses for ICE and border control” — referring to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement — as well as a “massive increase in the number of detention beds and funding for all border security infrastructure and barriers, including completion of the border wall.”

 

Trump also indicated that he was pursuing the ability to deport undocumented migrants, even if they couldn’t be returned to their home countries.

 

“Let them be brought to a foreign land and maintained by others for a very small fee as opposed to being maintained in our jails for massive amounts of money,” Trump said.

 

While the president said such a programme was “subject to getting it approved,” his remarks appeared to validate a recent CBS News report that his administration was negotiating an agreement with El Salvador’s government allowing the US to deport migrants there as a “safe third country.” That plan would revive a deal struck during Trump’s first term that was never implemented.

 

House Republicans gathered to hear directly from the president on how to make good on his campaign trail message: lowering taxes, unleashing domestic energy production and cracking down on US-Mexico border crossings.

 

Trump said he was “eager to get to work with Congress on the largest package of tax cuts and reforms in American history” but agnostic on what legislative vehicle they used to accomplish that goal.

 

“One bill, two bills, I don’t care,” Trump said, adding he did not “want to get hung up on the budget process.”

 

GOP discussions 

Speaker Mike Johnson said the members are spending much of the two-day retreat behind closed doors in an attempt to coalesce behind a strategy to advance those goals and on how to offset the hefty price tag attached to those priorities.

 

Also on the agenda is finding consensus on raising the nation’s debt limit, an issue that pits Trump — who wants quick action — against hard-line members of his party, who want to use the vote to extract controversial spending cuts. Republicans also face their first real legislative test since they assumed control of Congress and the White House, funding the government before a March 14 shutdown deadline.

 

Republicans have a rare opportunity to pass tax, energy and border legislation with only votes from their own party, if they can all stick together. Narrow margins in both the House and Senate mean that Republicans can only afford to lose a handful of votes in either chamber. 

 

That slim majority is likely to most acutely be felt in the House, where a fractious majority, disparate priorities and an inclination to play political hardball means that getting enough Republicans to sign onto a bill implementing Trump’s policies will be difficult.

 

“President Trump wants his agenda passed. We have to put our differences aside, and stop thinking about ourselves, and start thinking about the country as a whole,” said Representative Carlos Gimenez, a Florida Republican. “I am sure there are going to be some things in that package I may not like personally, but the package is going to be good for America and we need to move it forward.”

 

Trump wants additional tax cuts that could increase the price tag of renewal.

 

He told lawmakers he intended to “keep my promises, starting with no taxes on tips, no tax on Social Security and no tax on overtime.”

 

Budget process 

Republicans have yet to decide whether to produce one massive bill, or tackle border security first and come back for the remaining issues later in the year before a Dec. 31, 2025 deadline to extend a series of expiring tax cuts.

 

Even more divisive is how to pay for these plans, which could cost several trillion dollars. Republicans have floated using revenue from higher tariffs and slashing spending to offset the costs of tax cuts and additional border security measures.

 

But some GOP members are wary of deep spending cuts, which could gut benefit programs popular among voters. House leaders are also hesitant to include the tariffs — which Trump can impose on his own without Congress — because it removes the White House’s leverage to use import duty threats to settle disputes with trading partners.

 

Trump has done little to settle some of those intra-party squabbles, and again avoided charting a course on Monday night. Johnson has set an ambitious goal to pass a bill out of the House this spring. The speaker has set an even tighter deadline — Feb. 24 — for Congress to adopt a budget resolution that outlines how much the bill can cost.

 

House Republicans will meet again at the Doral golf club on Tuesday, where they will hear from Vice President JD Vance. Trump is scheduled to return to the White House Monday evening.