Trump pushes border crackdown at House Republican retreat as he caps first week in office

DORAL, Fla. — President Donald Trump regaled House Republicans on Monday with a rhetorical highlight reel from his first week in office, and he urged them to support his immigration crackdown and border security proposals.

“We have no apologies and we’re moving very fast,” Trump said.

“I really focus on the border more than anything else,” he said, downplaying the importance of inflation, an issue that fueled his candidacy last year but one that he has less control over as president.

Speaking at House Republicans’ annual policy retreat, Trump made clear his political ambitions as he rallied lawmakers to advance their conservative agenda.

“We’re forging a new political majority that’s shattering and replacing Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal coalition, which dominated American politics for over 100 years,” he said.

The conference is being held at Trump National Doral Miami, a posh resort with four golf courses owned by the billionaire president. Although Republicans are euphoric over election victories that have given them total control in Washington, they’re also facing difficult negotiations in the coming weeks and months.

They need to find consensus on a spending bill before a March 14 deadline, when funding for the federal government expires.

In addition, Republicans are working on a budget blueprint that would set the stage for their broader plans, including tax cuts, fossil fuel development and border security. With thin majorities in the House and Senate, they will need near-unanimity to pass their proposals without Democratic support.

Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, set the first week of February for the House Budget Committee to pass the blueprint that is key to the whole process.

“That will be where the lion’s share of these campaign promises we made are fulfilled,” Johnson said. “And that’s what all the hard work here is, in the room with all of us negotiating and coming to consensus.”

Political capital is almost always at its peak at the start of a new presidential term, even more so because this is Trump’s second and he is prevented under the Constitution from a third.

However, that didn’t stop Trump from joking Monday about running again.

“I think I’m not allowed to run again,” Trump said as he turned to Johnson. “Am I allowed to run again, Mike?”

Johnson is trying to lump many of the Republican priorities into one massive catch-all bill that Senate Democrats cannot filibuster, but many Republican senators think it would be better to do two bills — the first focused on border security and defense, and the second on extending and expanding upon the tax cuts passed in Trump’s first term.

“Whether it’s one bill, two bills, I don’t care,” Trump said in Doral.

Republicans are also eyeing potential changes to key safety net programs, such as work requirements for those participating in Medicaid, to help offset the cost of enacting their priorities. Trump has pushed expensive ideas like exempting tipped wages and Social Security checks from income taxes.

House Republicans said they expect more specifics to be announced after the retreat in Doral. Until then, they were highlighting Trump’s first week in office, particularly reveling in the showdown that Trump had with Colombia this past weekend over accepting flights of deported migrants from the U.S.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that Colombia agreed to all of Trump’s terms, “including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on U.S. military aircraft, without limitation or delay.”

“Think about it, President Trump, I don’t even think had finished the front nine before he successfully forced the Columbian president to take back their illegal immigrants,” said Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich. “The days of America being walked all over are long gone thanks to President Trump.”

On the budget fight to come, Democrats are already casting it as one that would primarily benefit the wealthy at the expense of others, with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries labeling the Republican effort a “contract against America.”

“It will hurt working families, hurt the middle class, hurt our children, hurt our seniors and hurt our veterans,” Jeffries said.

Republicans are warning that if Congress does not act quickly to extend tax relief, capital will remain on the sidelines and families next year would see child tax credits and a guaranteed tax deduction greatly reduced, upping their federal tax bill.

One of Trump’s parting admonitions to lawmakers in the room was to stick together because “we have a chance to win like never before.”

“There’s nothing we cannot achieve as long as the Republican Party remains united. I hope you can remain united,” Trump said.