Key Donald Trump aide Stephen Miller urged House Republicans during a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill Wednesday to find new ways to cut funding for sanctuary cities and states like New York while beefing up border enforcement.
Miller, who served as a speechwriter and senior adviser in the president-elect’s first administration, met with members of the Republican Study Committee, the largest GOP caucus in the House, for an hour to lay out border security plans for the 47th president’s term, sources familiar with the talks told The Post.
That blueprint included withholding federal funds from sanctuary jurisdictions, which bar information about non-citizen arrests from being shared with federal authorities, and hiring more Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to help with planned mass deportations.
Wednesday’s meeting between Miller and members of the House GOP was first reported by Fox News .
“The Republican Study Committee stands ready to deliver on the Trump agenda from day one of the new administration,” the 177-member group’s chairman, Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), said in a statement. “We’re laser-focused on securing the border and cracking down on illegal immigration.”
Long Island Rep. Nick LaLota, another member of the RSC, introduced a bill last year that would have pulled all federal aid funding for sanctuary jurisdictions grappling with the influx of migrants — but it never was taken up in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants have been thrown at New York City to provide food, shelter and other services to migrants in recent years, according to Comptroller Brad Lander’s office.
In fiscal year 2024, the city spent $3.75 billion on migrant services, the disclosures by Lander’s office show, and was expected to receive $237.3 million in total from the feds.
In 2023, Justice Department grants to law enforcement in all sanctuary jurisdictions amounted to more than $1.56 billion, according to the Center for Immigration Services, a conservative nonprofit research organization.
While many cities and states implemented sanctuary laws in response to Trump’s immigration actions during his first term, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Big Apple Mayor Eric Adams have indicated a willingness to work with the incoming Republican administration.
Adams had also previously opposed policies that barred the police from responding to detainer requests from ICE.
In 2017, then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order enshrining costly sanctuary policies prohibiting state officials and law enforcement agents from inquiring about a person’s immigration status.
Earlier this month, the House passed the Laken Riley Act on a bipartisan basis to force states and cities to cooperate with federal authorities seeking to detain and deport criminal migrants.
The legislation is currently being debated and amended in the Senate, though most border provisions will be tucked into an immense bill expected to pass both chambers of Congress through a process known as budget reconciliation.
With the approval of the Senate parliamentarian, a bill under budget reconciliation only requires a simply majority to pass the upper chamber. Bills in the House can pass by a majority only if they pass through the Rules Committee.
The process, however, must only involve measures that change spending levels and don’t re-write federal law.
The price tag could top $85 billion, according to an early estimate reported by Bloomberg.
Trump, 78, is also expected to reverse several Biden-era border moves via executive order on Day One.
The once and future president has said he will reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” rule for asylum-seekers — potentially reducing southern border crossings by as much 70% — halt migrant flights, restore a travel ban for “terror-plagued countries,” and end use of the CBP One mobile app.
“We won’t rest until we deliver the toughest border security measures in American history,” Pfluger added. “Our partnership with Stephen Miller and his team will turn Republican priorities into legislative wins in the House.”
