Trump praises bill passage on trip to new migrant detention facility in Florida : NPR
President Trump visited an expulsion installation in the middle of the Florida Everglades while the Senate passed into the megabill.
Ailsa Chang, host:
President Trump was in Florida by visiting a new migrant detention center in the middle of the Everglades. At the same time, the Senate Republicans in Washington have narrowly adopted the big Trump tax reductions and the expenditure bill. It was the president’s reaction when someone in the audience of Trump’s event provided the news.
(Soundbit of archived registration)
President Donald Trump: Oh, thank you.
Unidentified person: Yay.
(APPLAUSE)
Trump: wow. THANKS. I – you know, I wait, I listen to these wonderful words, and these are music to my ears. But I was wondering too, how are we going? Because I know it’s great listening time. It shows that I care about you because I’m here, and I should probably be there.
Chang: The bill is now going to the House of Representatives, either for a final passage or additional changes. With more reaction from Trump and the reason for his trip to Florida, we are now joined by the main correspondent of the White House of NPR, Tamara Keith. Hi, tam.
Tamara Keith, Byline: Hi, Ailsa.
Chang: OK, let’s start with the bill. President Trump said he wanted him on his desk by July 4. What do you think, Tam? Will he get what he wants?
Keith: It’s in the air at this stage. This bill really contains the entire national legislative program of the president all grouped together. These are tax reductions. It spends more on the application and defense of immigration. It increases the debt ceiling. He makes a lot of other things. But an independent analysis reveals that this would add billions of billions to the deficit and could lead to millions of Americans who lose their health coverage. And this creates heartburn among the republicans of the room which are not satisfied with the version of the Senate. President Trump was asked about it and said he was not worried.
(Soundbit of archived registration)
Trump: It’s a big bill. There is something for everyone, and I think it will be fine in the house. In fact, I think it will be easier in the room than in the Senate.
Keith: And he was also disdainful of the estimate that nearly 12 million people could lose coverage of Medicaid. He said that the number would actually be much lower, although he was not clear on what he is based on. I would simply say that the experience so far with this bill has been that the resistance of the Republicans melts in the face of Trump pressure.
Chang: Ok. Well, let’s talk about Trump’s trip to Florida, if you can. He was there to visit, I understand, a new migrant detention center. Can you tell us more about this place?
Keith: Yes, it is a temporary installation under construction on an outstanding landing track in the middle of the Everglades. There are reused FEMA trailers and huge white tents with air conditioning and beds, with interior walls at the chain link fence. It was built by the state of Florida and the State will be reimbursed by the financing of FEMA. And it is supposed to start accommodating migrants faced with expulsion from tomorrow, and can house up to 3,000 people. President Trump seemed quite excited by the fact that he is surrounded by alligators and poisonous snakes.
(Soundbit of archived registration)
Trump: It is known as Alligator Alcatraz, which is very suitable because I looked outside, and this is not a place where I want to hike anytime. But very soon, this installation will house some of the most threatening migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet. We are surrounded by kilometers of perfidious swamps, and the only way out is really the deportation.
Keith: He said he hoped that other governors will do the same thing and even suggested that perhaps these kinds of facilities would not be so temporary after all.
Chang: Well, how do you think that an installation like this corresponds to the approach of President Trump in terms of immigration as a whole?
Keith: he has promised a massive expulsion, but the figures have not been massive so far. The White House said – said they need additional border patrol and ice officers who are funded by the major bill that has just passed the Senate today. But the emphasis is placed on self-carrying, including during the event today. The president and his allies work very hard to make him uncomfortable and unattractive for people to stay in the United States without legal status. At one point today, the governor of Florida, Ron Desantis, said: Why would you like to go through Alligator Alcatraz if you could simply go home by yourself? Critics argue that it is cruel and unusual, and the majority of people have swept away immigration raids at this stage are not hardened criminals, but the people who have come illegally to the country and worked and worked and high of families in the United States in the United States
Chang: It’s Tamara Keith of NPR. Thank you, Tam.
Keith: You are welcome.
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