House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., suggested former President Donald Trump will move quickly to tighten laws against illegal immigration if he wins the White House.
The No. 2 House Republican leader told Fox News Digital that he met with Trump some eight months ago at Mar-a-Lago, where the two discussed priorities for the first 100 days of a new administration – provided the GOP sweeps Congress and the White House.
Among the priorities, in addition to economic and energy initiatives, is the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“President Trump can do a number of things on his own that he has talked about,” Scalise said Friday.
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He said Trump would likely reinstate his Migrant Protection Protocols, better known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy, which forced asylum-seekers to wait on the Mexican side of the U.S. southwestern border while their cases were being adjudicated. Multiple human rights groups have criticized the policy as inhumane, and the Biden administration dropped it in 2021.
Scalise also expects Trump to cease all “catch-and-release” policies at the border.
“We know that it’s causing crime problems in every community, drug problems, the fentanyl that the drug cartels are bringing in,” Scalise said.
A Republican-majority Congress would support Trump’s crackdown, he said, noting Capitol Hill’s role in funding federal projects and programs.
“Things like building more wall – that’s something we worked with President Trump to do. We built over 500 miles of wall. Joe Biden ended that on day one,” Scalise said.
“We also want to fund some more tools for our Border Patrol agents, things like drone capabilities, night vision, so that they can do an even better job of managing the border.”
Other first 100-day priorities include rolling back electric vehicle mandates and setting new tax policy – with key provisions in Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act set to expire in 2025.
However, the Louisiana Republican was careful not to over-project confidence in the closing days of the election. He noted that the House majority would likely come down to 40 to 45 key races out of 435 and that a GOP majority would likely be a slim four to 10 seats.
“These aren’t the days where you can have a 30-seat majority anymore because of redistricting and the way it’s really narrowed the map,” he said. “But at the same time, I mean, today we have a four-seat majority. We had actually dropped down to a one-seat majority earlier this year. So, you know, if we’re able to get it up close to double digits, that would really be a great night for us.”
Scalise himself has put in hundreds of miles on the road in support of Republican candidates.
He raised $70 million this election cycle, with $15 million given to the House GOP campaign arm and $10.4 million to 206 individual candidates and incumbents.
Scalise’s political team said he has visited at least 140 different districts to campaign for the 2024 cycle.
In October alone, the month before Election Day, Scalise held 66 events across 28 states.
Should Democrats win the House majority, however, Scalise – the longest-serving member of House GOP leadership – insisted he had no interest in challenging House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., as the top House Republican.
When asked if he would entertain a bid for minority leader against Johnson if colleagues asked him to, Scalise firmly answered, “No.”
“We’re not talking about what happens if we lose the majority, because all of my focus is on not only winning the majority, but gaining seats. And anybody who’s thinking about losing or anything like that is just misplaced in their focus,” he said.
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