What the immigration battle could look like under Trump

House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will likely take their cues from Trump, but the first steps could be putting money in a budget bill that will appropriate government funding starting in April to beef up enforcement and border security.

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But if lawmakers try to start putting together immigration legislation, they will likely end up needing a comprehensive package to address how it’s paid for and how it works together, said Stephanie Martz, a lobbyist who worked as a key staffer on the Gang of Eight bill when she worked for New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer — now the minority leader…

Another piece of legislation that could move quickly could be what’s known as “Kate’s Law,” named after Kate Steinle, a young woman who was shot and killed by an undocumented immigrant that had repeatedly violated his deportation order and re-entered the country. The bill would institute escalating mandatory minimum prison sentences for anyone caught illegally re-entering the country in violation of a deportation order.

Von Spakovsky predicted that further legislation and more aggressive deportation may wait until the results of executive-led stepped-up enforcement become clear. Incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus did not list immigration in a recent interview with Hugh Hewitt where he laid out the legislative priorities of the first few months of next year.