What he said in the interview with Lohud

WEST HARRISON – Count Rep. Mike Lawler as a “no” vote if the Senate’s bipartisan plan for immigration reform and border security reaches your side of the Capitol.

The Senate was expected to re-pass the bill this week, reviving a proposal that once seemed likely to bridge one of Washington’s deepest divisions. It emerged with fanfare in February after months of bipartisan negotiations, but then collapsed after former President Donald Trump criticized it and Republican senators balked.

Lawler, in an interview at The Journal News’ offices on Tuesday, also criticized the measure, arguing that it would codify a policy that he said Republicans don’t support and that they call “catch and release.” It allows undocumented immigrants to enter and remain in the United States while their asylum claims are processed in court, rather than keeping them in detention centers during a process that takes years.

The first-term Republican from Rockland County recently earned high marks for bipartisan work in his first year in Congress. But on this topic, he has stood firmly on the side of his party against the Senate bill and in favor of the House Republicans’ own border bill, which has no Democratic support and is rejected by them as overly harsh.

Lawler blamed President Joe Biden and his administration for the underlying problem, saying they caused a surge in border crossings by reversing Trump’s executive orders.

“This was a political choice,” he said. “It was a political choice to decree ‘catch and release’. So while people focus on the bipartisan Senate bill as if it will somehow solve the fundamental issue, we need to look back and see why we are dealing with this issue in the first place.”

Moderate Brand: Rep. Mike Lawler walks a tightrope as a centrist in his first four months in Congress

Trump deportation threat “not realistic”

Lawler sees little prospect of Trump’s threat to arrest and deport millions of undocumented immigrants – using the National Guard or military if necessary – if he defeats Biden in the November election and returns to office.

“That’s not realistic,” he said. “You’re not going to arrest 20 million people and expel them.”

He pointed to the softer approach spelled out in a bipartisan bill he helped introduce last year. This proposal, known as the Dignity Act, would create paths to legalization or citizenship for many of the millions of immigrants already living and working in the U.S. without authorization. Deportation, he said, would be reserved only for those who commit crimes.

Trump’s trials are “destructive” for the country

Lawler did not make any endorsements during this year’s presidential primaries and has been quieter than many of his colleagues about Trump’s third bid for the White House. And he says he has no plans to join a rotating cast of House Republicans to stand in solidarity with Trump in a Manhattan courtroom, where the former president is on trial for falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to a porn star.

But in Tuesday’s interview, Lawler expressed similar doubts about the four criminal cases against Trump, arguing they will widen the country’s partisan divide and fuel distrust in the criminal justice system among the former president’s supporters.

“I think these types of cases that have been brought, in some respects, are destructive to the county and will worsen division, regardless of the outcome,” he said. “And from that standpoint, I think it’s extremely unfortunate for the country.”

Another run at the SALT limit

Lawler was part of a bipartisan effort to increase the $10,000 limit his party placed in 2017 on a tax deduction known as SALT — for state and local taxes — that used to reduce federal tax bills each year for people in states with high taxes, like New York. . A proposal to double that limit for married couples failed in February when it failed to pass a procedural vote.

New members: New Faces in DC: Meet the Three Freshmen Congressmen Representing the Hudson Valley

In Tuesday’s interview, Lawler chided Democrats for opposing that motion, which they did because Republicans tied it to a resolution denouncing the Biden administration’s energy policies. And he said he plans to renew his opposition to the SALT cap next year — if he’s reelected — when it expires and Congress negotiates a new tax bill.

Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Contact him at cmckenna@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared in the Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Lawler analyzes border bill, Trump trials: what he said in interview with Lohud