Former President Donald Trump took to social once again took to social media to encourage Republicans to stand strong against the proposed “immigration deal” that is being bandied about in the Senate.
Writing in a Saturday morning Truth Social post, the former president made his opinion clear: “CLOSE THE BORDER!”
NPR reported:
While text of an agreement has not yet been released, Trump spoke out against a bipartisan framework last week, writing on his social media site, Truth Social: I do not think we should do a Border Deal, at all, unless we get EVERYTHING needed to shut down the INVASION of Millions & Millions of people, many from parts unknown, into our once great, but soon to be great again, Country!”
He added that House Speaker Mike Johnson should only accept a deal that is “perfect.”
Trump’s comments comments were a serious blow to the talks. Significant border provisions were meant to garner Republican support for Ukraine assistance, which the party has increasingly soured on. House Republicans in particular have little appetite for more Ukraine aid, and have been insisting that the Senate take up a border bill they previously passed — without a single Democratic vote — instead of working on a bipartisan one.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who supports aid for Ukraine, stressed that Thursday his state “can’t continue to absorb” the number of migrants currently crossing the border, which hit a record high of 2.5 million people last year.
Not all Republicans stand with the president, however. NBC News wrote that “tempers flared” earlier in the week “as Republicans battled among themselves over whether to accept or reject a deal for tougher immigration laws, with some pushing back on colleagues who want to bow to former President Donald Trump’s wishes and kill it.
‘The border is a very important issue for Donald Trump. And the fact that he would communicate to Republican senators and Congress people that he doesn’t want us to solve the border problem — because he wants to blame Biden for it — is really appalling,’ Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, told reporters.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., urged his colleagues not to make it all about politics at the behest of another candidate.
‘I didn’t come here to have the president as a boss or a candidate as a boss. I came here to pass good, solid policy,’ Tillis said. ‘It is immoral for me to think you looked the other way because you think this is the linchpin for President Trump to win.’”
President Biden has said he supports the deal and will close the border once it’s signed. A curious position since the president already has that authority under current law.
On Friday, the CBP reported that over 302,000 migrants were encountered just last month at the border, a number that does not include those the agency missed.
BREAKING: In Friday news dump, CBP officially reports 302,034 migrant encounters in December, the highest month ever recorded. CBP also reports Border Patrol arrested 19 people on the FBI terror watchlist in December, bringing the total to 50 arrests for fiscal year 2024 so far.
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) January 26, 2024
To put that number into context, that’s roughly the equivalent of the city of Pittsburgh coming through the southern border in one month.
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