Republicans Tell House, Senate GOP Leadership: Crackdown on Illegal Immigration Must Come First in New Congress

A coalition of House and Senate Republicans is telling GOP leadership that the next Congress must first act to crack down on illegal immigration by finishing construction of the border wall, massively expanding detention space, and giving broad authority to federal agents to quickly deport millions of illegal aliens.

“Following President Trump’s decisive victory, House and Senate Republicans now have a responsibility to do everything we can to help the President fulfill the promises he made to the American people,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) writes to incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). Several other House and Senate Republicans also signed the letter.

“One of those promises was to secure our borders and restore the integrity of our nation’s immigration system after four years of President Biden’s open border policies,” the Republicans continue:

That is why we believe it is critical that we prioritize the prompt passage of a border security focused reconciliation bill. Mindful that our slim majority in the House and the filibuster in the Senate means that success is far from guaranteed, we believe that a two-step reconciliation process gives us the best chance of securing passage of this transformational border security legislation.
[Emphasis added]

The Republicans tell Thune and Johnson that the new Congress should provide four years of funding for border wall construction, require that the wall be completed, hire thousands of new Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, and ensure that detention bed space is massively increased.

The Republicans also want the first funding bill to:

• Impose financial penalties on illegal aliens so they self-deport,
• Eliminate foreign nationals’ eligibility to receive welfare benefits, and
• Include significant spending cuts to achieve deficit reductions

Scott is joined in the letter by Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Mike Lee (R-UT), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Ted Budd (R-NC), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Reps. Andy Harris (R-MD), Chip Roy (R-TX), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Josh Brecheen (R-OK), Bob Good (R-VA), Eric Burlison (R-MO), Scott Perry (R-PA), Andrew Clyde (R-GA), Michael Cloud (R-TX), Tom Tiffany (R-WI), Byron Donalds (R-FL), Clay Higgins (R-LA), Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Mary Miller (R-IL), Barry Moore (R-AL), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Bill Posey (R-FL), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Andy Ogles (R-TN), Keith Self (R-TX), and Russ Fulcher (R-ID).

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.