Who Is Brandon Gill?

My VIP for this week is Brandon Gill, Republican freshman representative from Texas. According to George Caldwell, Gill introduced his first bill in Congress last week. He intended his legislation to reinstate “Remain in Mexico,” Donald Trump’s policy for would-be immigrants. 

The bill would restore a policy from Trump’s first term that required all asylum-seekers coming through Mexico to remain there until their asylum hearing in an American court. President Joe Biden immediately reversed that policy upon taking office in 2021.

In an interview with The Daily Signal’s Bradley Devlin on “The Signal Sitdown” podcast, Gill reviled Biden’s reversal of that policy, but also argued that Trump’s policies must be enshrined into law if they are going to last into the future.

“We had border security under President Trump. Joe Biden got rid of it. Why is that It’s because everything’s been done through executive order,” said Gill.

Ryan Walker, executive vice president of Heritage Action, voiced his support for the legislation, telling The Daily Signal, “Enough is enough. Republicans campaigned on the promise to secure the border, and in November, the American people gave them a mandate to deliver. The Remain in Mexico Act is an important step to protect American citizens and begin restoring stability to our broken immigration system.”

At just 30 years of age, Gill is a young face in one of the oldest Congresses in history. As his first introduced bill, the Remain in Mexico Act serves to position him as a firm ally of Trump on immigration, one of the central issues of the 2024 campaign.

“I think we all recognize this is his mandate,” Gill told The Daily Signal.

“We have a majority in the House because of President Trump, not because of anybody else. We have a majority in the Senate because of President Trump. So, that is the vision that President Trump has cast for the party, which is an America-first agenda. That’s what we’re going to be focused on passing.”