President Trump on Tuesday urged House Republicans to pass either of two GOP-authored immigration reform bills up for a vote this week, and said Congress must also change the law to allow children to remain with relatives at southern border detention facilities.
The president also used his rare visit to the Capitol to talk trade and jab a losing Republican incumbent and vocal critic.
Republican lawmakers are coalescing around an immigration reform bill authored by Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., that is considered to have the best chance of passing later this week.
“He didn’t really tell us what bill to vote for,” Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said after the hour-long meeting, which took place in the Capitol basement. “He said he wants to take care of the kids and secure the border. We are going to move forward with immigration that we can get done.”
A GOP source in the room said Trump told lawmakers, “I’m with you all the way.”
“We are going to get this done. I’m with you. I love you people,” Trump said, according to the source.
Trump brought up his daughter, Ivanka Trump, who the president said told him the images of children separated from parents is disturbing.
Trump told lawmakers they need to fix the law so that immigration laws can be enforced, but without having to separate families.
“He said he’s with us 1,000 percent,” said Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Kan. “He said we need to pass one of the two bills. He was agnostic about which one.”
Trump outlined his four requirements for immigration reform, which are included in the two GOP bills.
“He said if his four pillars are in it, he’ll support it,” Mullin said.
Republicans said after the meeting they believe the Ryan bill is the most likely to pass.
It would provide a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million Dreamers, limit chain migration, end the visa lottery system, and provide $25 billion for a border wall over a period of several years.
It would also end the practice of taking immigrant children from parents who cross the border illegally by changing the law to allow the children to remain in ICE detention centers.
A second similar bill authored by Reps. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and Michael McCaul, R-Texas, is considered more conservative. Both Goodlatte and McCaul, however, have acknowledged their bill probably can’t pass and say they support the Ryan compromise.
House and Senate Republicans are also proposing separate measures that include language like that in the Ryan bill allowing children to remain with relatives in ICE facilities.
In the House, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., is proposing such standalone legislation. But Meadows said Tuesday his bill would serve only as “a backup plan” if the House GOP immigration reform plan doesn’t pass.
The Senate is also planning to propose a standalone bill and may try to vote on it this week, GOP leaders said Tuesday. But Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he opposes the move and instead wants Trump to simply end the practice of taking children away, which would require the releasing parents and children together.
It’s not clear whether the bill will get a vote this week. The House whip team is currently assessing support among GOP lawmakers. No Democrats are expected to vote for it.
Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., said the Republican Study Committee, the GOP’s largest conservative faction that he leads, will consider whether to support it in the coming days.
“We are going to present it in our RSC meeting tomorrow,” Walker told reporters, adding Trump’s endorsement, “moved the needle a little bit.”
Trump used the rare visit to the House GOP to take a jab at Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., a longtime vocal critic of Trump who lost his primary earlier this month.
Trump joked that he wanted to congratulate Sanford on his campaign and then called Sanford “nasty.” The remarks fell flat, Walker said.
“It didn’t go over great in the room,” Walker said. “There was a few moans. Mark’s one of our colleagues. Agree with him or not, he’s a honest man.”
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla, said the president was effective in helping sell immigration reform.
And he talked about the current trade dispute with China, which has drawn opposition from GOP lawmakers who fear new tariffs will result in higher U.S. prices.
Trump was “very relaxed, confident and funny,” and started the talk to the GOP by advocating for his trade policies.
“He’s very proud of what is going on on the tax front, the regulatory front, North Korea, he thinks we are in a good place on the trade dispute,” Cole said. “He made the case very effectively for his administration.”
