Republicans in Congress Seek to Buttress Trump’s Border Agenda

After a slew of Trump administration executive orders aimed at strengthening the border against illegal immigration, Republican lawmakers are gearing up to support the effort with a number of bills focused on reforming the asylum process and finishing the border wall.

The president has already made several moves to strengthen the border—declaring an emergency at the southern border on Day One and shutting down the CBP One asylum application, among others.

 But Republicans have repeatedly signaled that they’re keen on making these moves more permanent.

Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-Texas, told The Daily Signal on Tuesday that it’s Republican congressmen’s task to make sure that the policies outlined in Trump’s executive orders are codified in law.

“Laws are in place currently, but those executive orders capitalize on that, and the party should come together and pass absolute legislation that we can push through the House and the Senate for his signature so we don’t have to worry about this problem again,” Luttrell said. 

Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Penn., likewise told The Daily Signal that Republican legislation would focus on converting executive orders into legislation if necessary.

“We’ll go through each one of these executive orders and actually figure out which are the most beneficial for the American people, and we may want to weigh in in a legislative fashion on some of these things,” Mackenzie said.

And there’s some reason to be bullish about Republicans’ chances in turning these Trumpian policies into law.

The Laken Riley Act, which requires that illegal immigrants convicted of theft and certain other crimes be detained by the authorities, passed the Senate with the support of 12 Democrats, including Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, and Ruben Gallego of Arizona.

Freshman Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, is taking the lead on this initiative to turn policies into law.

 Gill has proposed the “Remain in Mexico Act,” which would enshrine in law Trump’s previous administration’s policy of requiring asylum-seekers to remain in their home country before the court date for their asylum application.

Gill told The Daily Signal’s Bradley Devlin that converting that policy into an actual law is essential to creating any lasting changes to border policy that can’t be easily reversed by a future Democratic president. 

“We had border security under President Trump. Joe Biden got rid of it. Why is that? It’s because everything’s been done through executive order,” said Gill.

Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, joined in on the process, introducing a birthright citizenship bill on Tuesday to support Trump’s executive order blocking the children of illegal immigrants from automatically receiving citizenship just by virtue of being born here. 

The president’s order has received criticism from those who claim it violates the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of citizenship to “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” A federal judge on Thursday temporarily enjoined the Trump’s restriction on birthright citizenship in the face of lawsuits by Democratic state attorneys general challenging it.

“Quite frankly, this is in support. I support President Trump and his agenda 1,000%,” Babin told The Daily Signal the day he introduced the bill. “We want the Supreme Court to hear this case and give us a final interpretation. And I am convinced that it is wrongly interpreted.”

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., introduced another bill in the Senate on Thursday to solidify one of Trump’s most high-profile policy proposals—a wall along the southern border.

In a statement on “The WALL Act,” Britt’s team wrote that the law would provide $25 billion for the border wall without raising taxes, “by eliminating taxpayer-funded entitlement benefits for illegal aliens, which would further deter illegal migration.”

Republican congressmen’s eagerness to shore up Trump’s ambitious first moves is a sign of solidarity within a party that has only narrow majorities in both houses of Congress.

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