U.S. Sen. John Barrasso wants to increase fossil fuel production and decrease illegal immigration numbers in America.
Barrasso told Fox News on Sunday he’d support mass deportation of illegal immigrants, a promise President-elect Donald Trump has said he’ll follow through on once taking office.
“When you take a look at the president’s magnificent victory, the decisive victory, it’s I think because people were scared about all of these people in the country illegally,” Barrasso said. “People want to feel safe in their own homes.”
Barrasso will have a significant amount of say in these matters as he was elected Senate whip earlier this month, the No. 2 leadership position in the Senate.
He considers curbing illegal immigration and lowering energy prices some of his biggest priorities entering the new Congressional session and Trump presidency.
Deportations
Trump has indicated he’s willing to declare a national emergency and use the military to help remove undocumented immigrants in the U.S. as part of a mass deportation effort.
Last week, he shared a social media post indicating that he'd declare a national emergency and deploy military assets to carry out deportations, and commented “True” on it.
Even some Republicans like Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, have pushed back on this idea.
Barrasso, however, said Sunday he’d wholeheartedly support this action, calling it “the right thing to do.”
He believes the U.S. has a national security crisis because of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.
“When he (Trump) declares it a national emergency he can appropriately use the military,” Barrasso said.
Stephen Miller, the incoming White House deputy chief of staff, has even suggested the National Guard could be deputized to arrest undocumented immigrants.
"We will deputize them as immigration enforcement officers," Miller said during a radio interview last year. "They know their states, they know their communities, they know their cities."
Record Numbers
Under the Biden administration, there have been more than 10 million encounters with migrants at America’s borders — about 8 million at the southwest land border with Mexico.
Under the first Trump administration, there were 2.4 million encounters at this border.
About 11 million immigrants are estimated to be living in the U.S. illegally.
Illegal crossings reached a record high last December under the Biden administration, hitting 250,000 in that month alone. Since then time, illegal crossings have decreased, now on pace to hit a record low for deportations in the month of November, according to CBS News.
"It is an ultimate irony, and it is going to put Trump in a position of declaring victory," Doris Meissner, a senior fellow at the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute, told CBS.
Republicans have argued the individual crimes committed by some illegal immigrants are representative of the behavior of undocumented immigrants as a whole, while Barrasso said some mayors have shown more concern for the rights of undocumented residents than the rights of their own citizens.
Polling shows six of 10 Americans rate immigration as “very important” in determining how they vote, according to the Pew Research Center, an issue the public showed more support for Trump on than Vice President Kamala Harris during the campaign.
A CBS/YouGov poll conducted last week shows this sentiment hasn’t waned, with 57% of Americans saying they would support Trump starting a national program to deport all immigrants who entered the country illegally.
Energy Woes
Barrasso also said the best way to curb inflation and lower prices is by addressing energy.
He sees energy security as going hand-in-hand with national security and overall economic security, and he wants to reduce American dependence on foreign energy sources by focusing more on domestic energy production.
He accused the Biden administration of putting “a noose” around American energy and said Trump’s cabinet will take the “handcuffs” off fossil fuels.
More specifically, Trump and leading Republicans have vowed to drastically increase federal mineral leasing under his administration.
Federal leases for drilling significantly fell under Biden. The administration also announced in May that it would halt all new coal leases in the Powder River Basin and discontinue all current leases there by 2041.
“What we need to do right now is get that noose removed, and we’ve done it with the election of President Trump,” Barrasso said.
Confirmations
Trump has said he could test the limits of his constitutional authority by appointing controversial picks to his cabinet with temporary recess appointments while the Senate is out of session.
When asked about recess appointments, Barrasso appeared to dismiss the proposal, saying every one of Trump’s nominees will get a confirmation hearing and a fair process followed by a timely vote.
“The sooner we can get them confirmed, the better it will be to get prices down,” he said.
The new Republican-majority Senate will take office Jan. 3. Barrasso said they will attempt to hold confirmation hearings as early as possible so that a solid portion of Trump’s cabinet is in place by the time he takes the oath of office Jan. 20.
This would represent a marked increase in the speed of nominations compared to Trump’s last term in office.
Barrasso mentioned how former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama had most of their cabinet staff in place by the end of January of their first month in office.
“We plan to do the same thing with President Trump,” Barrasso said.
Barrasso has had glowing remarks about Trump’s nominees, who he described as “excellent choices across the board.”
He specifically complemented Trump’s picks for who will handle energy issues, a group that includes North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum as secretary of the Interior and Denver businessman Chris Wright as secretary of Energy.
“This is a group that can help get America back on track and help drain the swamp,” Barrasso said.
Barrasso tweeted after meeting with Trump’s nominee for secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, last week that they had a positive discussion about retaining the strength of America’s military.
Barrasso plans to be in the Persian Gulf for Thanksgiving to visit with the Wyoming National Guard.
He did the Fox News interview from Wyoming.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
