President Trump will launch a full-court press for tougher immigration laws and generous wall funding this summer as Capitol Hill braces for a budget battle in September, sources with knowledge of his plans told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday, as the president teased the strategy in a meeting with congressional appropriators.
That meeting occurred just hours after the Supreme Court dealt the Trump administration a major victory by upholding the president’s travel ban on a handful of Muslim-majority countries. A White House official described Trump as jubilant and encouraged by the news, adding that he will “continue pushing for stringent immigration laws that protect Americans and put our own citizens first.”
In a statement circulated by the White House, Trump called the 5-4 ruling “a moment of profound vindication” and condemned his congressional and media critics for their frenzied coverage of the administration’s legal troubles surrounding the ban. A former Trump campaign adviser said “the Supreme Court ruling proved what President Trump’s supporters have known all along: He knows what’s best for this country and uses common sense to get things done.”
[Byron York: As days pass, will Trump waste another chance to build the wall?]
Trump’s reliance on straightforward solutions, something his allies so often praise, was on full display when he gathered with Republican lawmakers Tuesday afternoon to discuss the looming spending deadline and a path forward for immigration reform. As his guests debated the nuts and bolts of the appropriations process, the president kept returning to his long-promised border wall, demanding that Congress boost funds for the project as soon as possible.
“We inherited a lot of different things, but [of] all of them, immigration makes the least sense. It is a hodgepodge of laws that have been put together over the years and we have to change it. It’s so simple. It’s called, ‘I’m sorry, you can’t come in,’” Trump said, adding that he would “ask for an increase in wall spending so we can finish it quicker.”
Those comments were just a glimpse of the president’s aggressive campaign for sufficient border security improvements that White House aides plan to roll out in the coming months. A source close to the administration said officials are anxious to complete a major portion of wall construction ahead of the 2020 presidential election, when the president will be evaluated for promises kept and promises broken during his first term.
“You just can’t have ‘build the wall’ chants in January 2020,” the source said. “If it hasn’t been built then, it’s never going to be … and voters will catch on.”
The same source said the White House is planning a full media blitz and intends to go hard on immigration in each campaign appearance Trump makes on behalf of Republican candidates, regardless of what message the candidates themselves desire. One White House official said Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen is likely to add more TV and briefing room appearances to her schedule, as are the president’s usual television surrogates. This person said Trump was delighted by Nielsen’s performance last week in a combative briefing on family separations at the border, during which she tussled with several reporters who questioned whether the administration’s policy amounted to child abuse.
The White House is also weighing an ad campaign that would share the stories of so-called “Angel Families” who lost loved ones to violence by immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally, according to the source close to the administration. The ads would be similar to a series released by the administration earlier this month that tackles opioid abuse and features four individuals who went to extreme lengths to score painkillers or heroin.
A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Any push for increased wall funding and immigration fixes would come as the administration also pursues alternative ways of strengthening current laws and discouraging illegal border crossings through executive action or obscure rule changes. For example, White House policy adviser Stephen Miller is said to be working on potential student visa restrictions and adjustments to welfare requirements, Politico reported earlier this month.
Miller has encouraged Trump to go hard on immigration, even as congressional GOP leaders fear it’s the wrong topic to accentuate in an election year. “That is the fundamental political contrast and political debate that is unfolding right now,” he told Breitbart last month.
Congress has until Sept. 30 to pass a bill authorizing spending for the beginning of next year. If it’s anything like the $1.3 trillion package lawmakers sent to Trump this spring, it could face a presidential veto threat, prolonging the immigration debate and jeopardizing Republicans’ chances just weeks before the midterms. The White House asked for $25 billion in border wall funding earlier this year and received $1.6 billion in the end.
