If President Donald Trump wins reelection, expect him to try to outlaw “sanctuary cities,” limit asylum grants, detain migrant families together and implement tougher standards for people entering the country and receiving work visas, senior adviser Stephen Miller said Thursday.

What You Need To Know

  • In an interview with NBC News, Trump adviser Stephen Miller laid out the president's second-term immigration agenda

  • If he wins reelection, Trump would try to outlaw “sanctuary cities” and limit asylum grants

  • Trump also would look to detain migrant families together and implement tougher standards for people entering the country and receiving work visas, Miller said 

  • A Biden campaign official said Miller’s policies are “xenophobic” and “dishonor our American values”

In an interview with NBC News, Miller, the architect of Trump’s hard-line immigration policies, laid out the president’s second-term plans for an election issue that has been overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic. 

Miller said his goal is “raising and enhancing the standard for entry" to the United States.

Miller, who stressed he was speaking in his role as a campaign adviser, noted that some of Trump’s immigration agenda can be accomplished through executive orders but that other initiatives would require legislation. 

“In many cases, fixing these problems and restoring some semblance of sanity to our immigration programs does involve regulatory reform," Miller said. "Congress has delegated a lot of authority. ... And that underscores the depth of the choice facing the American people."

He made it clear that Trump would escalate his war on sanctuary cities — places that don’t fully cooperate with federal efforts to find and deport unauthorized immigrants. Trump would push for legislation that would punish such cities and ultimately require local authorities to turn migrants over to federal agents. 

Miller also said the president would seek “burden-sharing deals”  with Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and other countries that cut off pathways to the U.S. for asylum seekers.

The White House aide also said Trump would not reinstate his controversial policy that separated children from parents at the border, but he indicated the administration would seek to amend the Flores agreement that sets a 20-day limit on holding children so that families could remain together indefinitely in immigration detection. 

Trump is also eyeing an even tougher stand on admitting people into the country. 

Miller said a “major priority” would be implementing enhanced screening methods and more information-sharing across agencies while vetting people. The U.S., which already looks for connections to terrorism or extremist groups, would also try to determine a visa applicant’s potential for recruitment by vetting their "ideological sympathies or leanings,” the Trump adviser said.

Miller said the president would also work to curtail work visas by eliminating the lottery system and giving priority to those being offered the highest pay. 

The campaign for Trump’s Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, told NBC that Miller’s policies are “xenophobic” and “dishonor our American values.”

"Unlike Trump, Vice President Biden knows that immigrants make America stronger and helped build this country,” said Jen Molina, Biden campaign director of Latino media.

Molina said Biden would restore DACA, seek a pathway to citizenship for undocumented people in his first 100 days, protect borders in a humane way and end "shameful practices like family separation.”