Stephen Miller prepares House Republicans for Trump’s immigration overhaul in a closed-door meeting
President-elect Trump’s top immigration and border aide spoke to House Republicans during about an hour of Wednesday’s meeting.
The deputies who left the room saluted Stephen Millerwho was chosen as the US homeland security adviser in the new Trump administration, as a brilliant political mind.
Two sources present at the discussions told Fox News that Digital Miller spoke about the need to increase the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) workforce, which is noteworthy given Trump’s promise to carry out mass deportations when he returns to office.
Miller also discussed ways to cut federal funding cities of refuge and states, a flow of money that Republicans have previously vowed to target if they want to control the levers of power in Washington.
Trump adviser Stephen Miller addresses a group of House Republicans on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (Getty Images)
The strategic meeting comes as congressional Republicans prepare for a sweeping overhaul of conservative policies through the budget reconciliation process. By lowering the threshold for passage in the Senate from 60 to 51 votes, the reconciliation allows the party that controls Congress and the White House to pass sweeping policy changes — as long as they address budget and other fiscal issues.
Sources told Fox News that Miller’s portion of the meeting focused in part on what borders and immigration politics could go into the reconciliation package and what kind of funding Congress should appropriate.
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The sources said Miller told Republicans that the new Trump administration understands that the president-elect’s goals on the border and immigration “probably won’t get a lot” of Democratic votes and that “those more controversial things have to be reconciled.” More bipartisan initiatives could be passed during the regular process, the sources added.
A House Republican representative told Fox News Digital of the understanding that Congress would follow Trump’s lead.
“I think we’re going to see a series of executive orders early on and that’s going to be helpful in separating what we have to do legislatively,” the lawmaker said.
One source in the room said Miller stressed the importance of messaging, adding that “nothing matters if we don’t get our message out to the American people.”
President-elect Trump has promised to carry out mass deportations. (Donald Trump/Truth Social)
Rep. Ralph Norman, RS.C., told Fox News Digital Miller discussed “low-hanging fruit” that Trump could address with an executive order, mentioning “deportation” as a possibility.
“Tax stuff, that’s going to take time,” Norman said.
Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo., declined to go into specifics about the meeting, but told Fox News Digital that the discussion focused on “illegal immigration and how to combat it … to bring common sense solutions to the program.” .
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“I had several questions about the cost to the American taxpayer if we don’t bring back the approximately 12 million illegal aliens that the Biden administration has allowed into our country,” Alford said.
Miller declined to answer reporters’ questions as he left the room.
He was invited to address the Republican Study Committee led by Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, the largest House Republican caucus, which acts as a sort of conservative think tank for the rest of the House Republican Conference.
House GOP leaders such as Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., were not in attendance, nor were they expected to be.
Rep. Mark Alford said he asked about the cost to taxpayers to keep millions of illegal immigrants in the country. (Getty Images)
Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., the group’s previous chairman, said there was “nothing new” said during the meeting, adding that it was an opportunity for Trump aides to address the House GOP.
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Trump and his aides have already paid close attention to Republicans in Congress.
Several of his new White House aides are in regular contact with top GOP lawmakers. Trump personally invited several groups of House Republicans to Mar-a-Lago last weekend.
