SO IT BEGINS

Stephen Miller Descends on Capitol Hill to Plot Trump’s Deportation Bonanza

The first order of business: find the funding number that will allow the Trump administration to carry out its hefty deportation goals.

Incoming White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller stopped by Capitol Hill Wednesday to ask for help sketching out President-elect Donald Trump’s signature mass deportation plan.

Miller, an alum of Trump’s first administration, called on GOP lawmakers to unify and quickly move on immigration legislation during a huddle with members of the Republican Study Committee.

He said lawmakers should prioritize figuring out a funding number that would allow the administration to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, according to sources in the room.

“He talked about how the cost of immigration is costing this country and he used the example of if an illegal has four children they have the same rights and privileges to the gimmes that Americans do, health care, education, all of that,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) told the Daily Beast, noting he didn’t lay out any specifics on immigration proposals during the meeting.

“He opened it up to questions, but he had a lot of emphasis on getting something done. Trump will be sworn in, and the time to go is now,” Norman added. “Everybody is stressing that we’ve got a short a short timeframe and we’ve got to come together.”

“He said we all need to come together,” another lawmaker added.

Miller’s appearance at the RSC lunch comes as Republicans begin to strategize on plans for a sweeping reconciliation bill—which allows the party in power to bypass the filibuster in the Senate—with immigration policy expected to be a key component in the bill.

Democrats are highly unlikely to rally behind the package Republicans put out on the matter, which will complicate its chances.

Republican lawmakers are working with a razor-thin margin, with leadership tasked with rallying their members around a massive bill that is expected to include language on issues that have been polarizing between different factions of the GOP in previous years.

Trump recently told GOP senators he plans to sign an executive order on deportations on day one, the Associated Press first reported.

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Juliegrace BrufkeSenior Political Correspondent

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