Some Senate Republicans are open to revisiting immigration policy after President Donald Trump floated a possible deal with Democrats, but they insist amnesty remains off the table.
Republicans, after sweeping midterm losses, are willing to open up the immigration policy debate after voters made clear that they didn’t support the administration’s approach: a Fox News poll published in September found that 53% of voters believed that Trump’s immigration policy had gone too far.
But there’s one thing that Senate Republicans won’t agree to: amnesty.
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“I trust President Trump,” Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., told Fox News Digital. “He’s gonna do what’s right, but as far as I’m concerned, amnesty is off the table. I’ll never go for it.”
The door creaked open on the idea when Trump, during an interview with “60 Minutes” that aired over the weekend, said that his administration’s mass deportation and enforcement policies might be “too tough.”
“Get the killers out, get the rapists out, get all the rough ones out, get the drug dealers out,” Trump said. “But let the people that are here — and in some cases here for 10 and 15 years — work a deal for them.”
The administration quickly sought to clarify Trump’s comments, with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin affirming that there would be “no amnesty” shortly after.
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Still, Republicans are willing to navigate the complex issue as Democrats gear up to take power next year. Some have been calling for action on the matter for months.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., one of the administration’s sharper Republican critics on immigration policy who is retiring at the end of the year, told Fox News Digital that as early as March he texted Trump and suggested it would be the “perfect time” to codify “all the stuff that has effectively sealed the border and used it as an opportunity to get merit-based immigration reform.”
“I also said in that text, though, was, in order for this to be successful, Stephen Miller either needs to be out of the room or on his meds,” Tillis said. “And so he’s the reason they’re walking it back is because they don’t want to do it, because they have some false assumption that that’s gonna hurt our base.”
“Our base is fine with merit-based immigration reform. President Trump is fine with merit-based immigration reform,” he continued. “And if we don’t get the stuff codified that has effectively sealed the border, it’s gonna be on them when the border gets opened up if a Democrat wins in ‘28.”
The Senate, just before Trump won the 2024 election, was on the cusp of a bipartisan immigration deal when Democrats controlled the chamber. The deal collapsed after Trump criticized it and Senate Republicans withdrew support.
“There’s a lot of scar tissue on this issue, but, you know, the president, because he secured the borders, he has credibility on the issue, and he has expressed a willingness,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said. “I have not seen anything yet that’s being proposed, but we will certainly hear them out, and if there’s something he wants to do there, have a conversation about it.”
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The bipartisan deal was the product of negotiations among Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, and would have funneled billions for border security and shuttered the border to most asylum seekers, among several other policy changes. But conservatives balked at the deal, and Trump’s influence from the campaign trail ultimately killed it.
Years later, Lankford is again in a prime position to work on a deal with Democrats, given that he is expected to become the ranking Republican on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee next year.
“If I’m ranking on Homeland Security, I’m right in the thick of it, whether you like it or not,” Lankford said.
Though opinions vary on what exactly the GOP’s approach would be going forward, many Republicans agree that the administration’s enforcement policies, particularly under former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, should not make a comeback.
“I think you have to make sure, first and foremost, that how you do your enforcement is not like the administration started under Kristi Noem,” Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., told Fox News Digital.
“I think people are for some enforcement, but not in a cruel way. And there were so many, there was a lack of training, lack of proper methodologies, and I think people want to take enforcement seriously.”
“But, again, I would say no amnesty at all,” he continued. “We don’t want to go there. Ronald Reagan, a great president, one of his few regrets, but significant regrets, was amnesty. And I don’t think Trump wants to make that mistake.”