Today’s notice: Adding historical context to the MAGA immigration civil war. What Marco Rubio would bring to State. Reconciliation. And Democrats move right on immigration along with everyone else.
H-1B Is a Flat Circle…
What should we make of last week’s confusing MAGA civil war over legal immigration? Why did so many treat something old as brand new? After Donald Trump chose Sriram Krishnan to be White House AI adviser, an incredibly nasty online fight over legal immigration bubbled up on the right. Trump was turning on his supporters! Or...
“Why are you people surprised? I mean, it’s almost like the freshman college student back from break who says, ‘Wow! Did you realize Shakespeare was a great author?!” said Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for steep reductions in legal immigration. “The fact is, he’s a regular Republican when it comes to immigration, which is to say his motto is, ‘legal, good; illegal, bad.’”
In fact, we did track early seeds of the MAGA H-1B visa split to a November 8, 2015, edition of a Breitbart News show. Host Steve Bannon sounded shocked to hear Trump express concern about foreign-born Ivy League graduates returning home. “We have to keep our talented people in this country,” Trump said (a strategy that was often referred to by its supporters as “stapling a green card to diplomas”).
Bannon replied, “um,” and a taken aback Trump asked what the problem was. “A country is more than an economy. We’re a civic society,” Bannon said at the time, pointing to the number of Asian executives in Silicon Valley.
“I still want people to come in,” Trump told Bannon. “But I want them to go through the process.”
The men eventually agreed to disagree. Bannon said of his fellow Breitbart types, “We’ve always got to be to the right of you on this.”
“That’s OK,” Trump replied.
Immigration lawyers we talked to recalled Trump’s first term as a more restrictive time for H-1B havers and seekers — they’ve already begun warning clients about a return to that reality. What’s new here, Krikorian said, is how much influence the pro-H-1B executive class Trump supporters (Elon Musk) will have in the new administration. There’s also the wild card of public opinion, with a new Associated Press poll out Tuesday showing dramatic increases in how much Americans prioritize immigration.
For his part, Krikorian said the recent “kerfuffle” was valuable, in a way.
“I think it was an important thing to have happen before they took office,” he said. “To sort of set down markers that before they were in a position to actually make decisions and then have those decisions blow up in their face.”
—Evan McMorris-Santoro
How Rubio Can Work Within America First
NOTUS is launching a new series on major players in Trump’s Washington. Stay tuned in the coming weeks and months for insights into the new group crafting American policy. The first is no stranger to working with Trump’s often-shifting worldview.
Over the years, Marco Rubio has developed a foreign policy profile largely in line with the established international order — especially when compared to Trump’s radical departures from that order. As Rubio enters confirmation hearings to be the next secretary of state, some wonder how much of the old Rubio they’ll get as America’s top diplomat. NOTUS’ Haley Byrd Wilt reports that “lawmakers from both parties said they are earnestly rooting for Rubio and believe he will be an adult in the room during Trump’s second term.”
Haley reports that Rubio has brought his vision in line with Trump’s before. “Trump being transactional instead of completely cemented in one way of thinking gave Rubio the opportunity to have real influence during his first term,” she writes. “Rubio often lobbied him on foreign policy matters, at one point becoming a kind of shadow secretary of state for Latin American policy. And he frequently pushed for stronger measures to combat aggression by the Chinese government.”
Front Page
- Jack Smith Was Trying to Close Up Shop. Trump Just Made That Very Complicated: Trump’s lawyers are fighting to stop the DOJ from releasing Smith’s report.
- Trump Suggests He Might Try to Force a Takeover of Greenland and the Panama Canal: The president-elect made another round of promises to expand the U.S.’s footprint in the Western Hemisphere.
Reconciliation Station
Trump declared this weekend that he wants one “big, beautiful” reconciliation bill full of his priorities, seeming to side with Mike Johnson and House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith in the great one-bill vs. two-bill debate.
But he also told Hugh Hewitt on Monday that he’s “open to either way, as long as we get something passed as quickly as possible,” leaving the door open for Senate Republicans who argue a two-bill approach would guarantee faster legislative wins.
Republicans are trying to read the tea leaves ahead of Trump’s much-anticipated meeting with the Senate GOP today. “I don’t think he’s hardcore on one bill or two bills,” Rep. Don Bacon told NOTUS. “This is really something the speaker and Leader Thune has got to work out.”
Durbin’s Pre-Trump Legal Prep
Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin is asking Attorney General Merrick Garland to withdraw five opinions by the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel, according to a letter obtained by NOTUS.
In the letter sent on Tuesday, Durbin argues the five opinions are “inconsistent with Congress’s constitutional prerogatives with respect to war, Congress’s role in treaty-making, and/or the President’s duty under the Take Care Clause.”
—Riley Rogerson | Read the letter.
Number You Should Know
11
The number of new House Democratic votes on Tuesday for the GOP-led Laken Riley Act. NOTUS’ Casey Murray reports that the tally for the first bill of the new Congress, which is aimed at fulfilling a Trump campaign promise on immigration, was 264-159, with 48 total Democratic votes. Seven Democrats who previously opposed or didn’t vote on the bill voted for it this time, including Democratic Reps. Ritchie Torres and Jared Moskowitz.
Not Us
We know NOTUS reporters can’t cover it all. Here’s some other great hits by… not us.
- Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan’s exit interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin for CNBC
- Who Is The Guy From Trump’s Greenland Video? by Jake Lahut for Straight from the Hut
- Elon Musk Is Roiling European Politics by Max Colchester and Bertrand Benoit for The Wall Street Journal
Be Social
Tim Burchett gets the last laugh.
Nobody is laughing at my @Carhartt today. It’s 6* pic.twitter.com/dQSQCJ0I34
— Tim Burchett (@timburchett) January 7, 2025
Tell Us Your Thoughts
When will the D.C. sidewalks finally be de-iced?
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