Former President Donald Trump revealed what his “number-one” priority would be if he returns to the White House for a second term in office.
While speaking to the New York Post for an article published on Monday, the ex-president reiterated his pledge to shut down the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Listen, I know exactly what to do. I’ll tell you the very first thing I’m definitely going to do. It’s number one on my mind. And that’s immediately, instantly, I’m back in the White House. No waiting. My prime thing, my absolute first directive will be to help the American people. That’s what I care about,” he said. “Day 1, my Act 1 will be to close that border.”
His second priority, he added to the news outlet, is to “get the prices down” in what appears to be a reference to relatively elevated and sticky inflation.
In previous public statements, President Trump has often said that he would immediately work to close down the border if reelected and argued that President Joe Biden’s administration has failed to enforce immigration laws.
Last year, he joked in a Fox News town hall event that he would be a “dictator ... for one day” of his presidency. “We’re closing the border, and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator,’” he said.
Trump campaign officials said at the time that the former president was simply trying to focus attention on the influx of illegal immigration at the border and stubborn inflation, two vulnerabilities for President Biden heading into the 2024 general election.
Polls have suggested President Trump has an advantage over his predecessor on immigration issues as many prospective voters say they’re concerned about illegal border crossings hitting record highs. In recent weeks, the former president have made note of several high-profile cases of illegal immigrants being charged with crimes, including the killing of Laken Riley, a nursing student in Georgia, for which a Venezuelan national is charged.
Roughly two-thirds of Americans now disapprove of how the Biden administration is handling border security, including about four in 10 Democrats, 55 percent of black adults, and 73 percent of Hispanic adults, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll that was carried out in March.
A recent Pew Research Center poll found that 45 percent of Americans described the situation as a crisis, while another 32 percent said it was a major problem.
The ex-president this week is expected to speak on the issue when he visits Michigan and Wisconsin, two battleground states. A spokesperson appeared to confirm that he would.
“Under Crooked Joe Biden, EVERY state is now a border state. EVERY town is now a Border Town—because Joe Biden has brought the carnage, chaos, and killing from all over world, and dumped it straight into our own backyards,” Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement this week.
Last month, the former president said that another early move he would make as president is to release people who were convicted for various crimes in connection to the Capitol breach on Jan. 6, 2021.
“My first acts as your next President will be to Close the Border, DRILL, BABY, DRILL, and Free the January 6 Hostages being wrongfully imprisoned,” he wrote on Truth Social on the same day that House Republicans released a report that found a now-dissolved House subcommittee on the Jan. 6 breach didn’t include key witness testimony and other details in its final report.
About 500 people have been sentenced to prison or jail terms in connection to the breach, while prosecutors have obtained more than 950 convictions, according to the Department of Justice’s most recent tally. Over 1,300 have been charged with a range of crimes.
