Thursday, 16 Jan 2025

Stephen Miller preps House Republicans for Trump's immigration overhaul in closed-door meeting

Incoming Homeland Security adviser Stephen Miller discussed deportations and funding to sanctuary cities during a roughly hour-long lunch held by the House Republican Study Committee.


Stephen Miller preps House Republicans for Trump's immigration overhaul in closed-door meeting
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President-elect Trump's top aide on immigration and the border spoke with House Republicans during a roughly hour-long meeting Wednesday.

Two sources present for the discussions told Fox News Digital Miller talked about the need to scale up the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) workforce, which is noteworthy given Trump's promise to execute mass deportations when he returns to office.

The strategy meeting comes as congressional Republicans are preparing for a massive conservative policy overhaul through the budget reconciliation process. By lowering the threshold for passage in the Senate from 60 votes to 51, reconciliation allows the party controlling Congress and the White House to pass broad policy changes - provided they deal with budgetary and other fiscal matters.

The sources said Miller told Republicans the incoming Trump administration understood the president-elect's border and immigration goals were "probably not going to get a lot" of Democratic votes and that "those more controversial things would need to be in reconciliation." More bipartisan initiatives could be passed during the regular process, the sources added. 

A House GOP lawmaker told Fox News Digital of an understanding that Congress would follow Trump's lead.

"I think we're going to see a slew of executive orders early, and that is going to be helpful to separate from what we have to do legislatively," the lawmaker said.

One source in the room said Miller emphasized the importance of messaging, adding that "nothing matters if we don't get our message out to the American people."

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital Miller discussed "low-hanging fruit" that Trump could tackle by executive order, mentioning "deportation" as a possibility.

"Tax stuff, that's going to take some time," Norman said.

"I had a couple of questions about the cost to American taxpayers if we don't repatriate some 12 million illegal aliens who the Biden administration has let into our country," Alford said.

Miller declined to answer reporters' questions when he left the room.

He was invited to address the Republican Study Committee led by Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, the House GOP's largest caucus, which acts as a conservative think tank of sorts for the rest of the House Republican Conference. 

House GOP leaders like Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., were not in attendance, nor were they expected.

Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., the group's previous chairman, said there was "nothing new" said during the meeting, adding it was an opportunity for Trump's aides to address the House GOP.

Trump and his aides have already paid heavy attention to congressional Republicans. 

Several of his incoming White House aides are in regular contact with top GOP lawmakers. Trump personally invited several groups of House Republicans to Mar-a-Lago last weekend.

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