Trump spoke to over 160 lawmakers who made the trip down from Washington to Doral, Florida, to attend the three-day GOP Issues Conference at Trump National Doral, where the party is looking to gain insight and direction on how best to implement the president’s agenda within their GOP trifecta.

He opened the speech praising Republicans’ 2024 wins and joking that he has raised a lot of money for the next presidential race “that I assume I can’t use for myself.”

“I’m not sure, am I allowed to run again? Mike?” Trump said, referring to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). “I better not get him involved in that.”

The president centered much of his speech on immigration, one of the top issues for voters in 2024 and the subject of many of the House GOP’s first slate of legislation and Trump’s executive orders.

Trump spoke to the controversial decision to transfer illegal immigrants out of the United States through military aircraft, photos of which have been posted across social media. He said under his direction, they have “successfully ended catch and release.”

“Throughout the week, the heroes of ICE have been hunting down and arresting hundreds of illegal alien criminals per day, including those with charges and convictions for rape, child sexual assault, terrorism, and even murder, many murders,” Trump said.

“This is not going to work out, and we’re going to get them to hell out of here,” the president added.

Trump said he will be seeking approval to remove illegal immigrants who are repeat offenders out of the United States, as well as seeking the death penalty against illegal immigrants who commit murder. 

He touted several of his executive orders, including revoking birthright citizenship and designating cartels as terrorist organizations, and praised the passage of the Laken Riley Act by the House and Senate. 

It will be among the first pieces of legislation signed by Trump to kick off his second administration, which the president says “shows the potential for additional enforcement bills that will help us crack down on criminal aliens and totally restore the rule of law in our country.”

The Doral retreat in part is focused on reconciliation and appropriations as Republicans seek to pass as much of Trump’s agenda into law as possible. The hope from leadership is to unify the conference and provide relief from the last two years of infighting that blocked many House GOP attempts to pass key bills due to a razor-thin majority.

Trump warned Republicans about the thin margins in the House, arguing they need to “stick together.” 

“We don’t have that luxury. It would be different if we had a 20-person, 30-person majority, but we don’t. We have to help leadership,” Trump said, noting it’s the one area Republicans “don’t get very high marks.”

“Everything is so hard. We always have two or three or five or something, people who just don’t wanna do it, and you just gotta do it. Make life easy,” the president pleaded.

Heading into the retreat this week, the conference is divided over whether to do reconciliation through one “big, beautiful bill” or two, the latter favored by many Senate Republicans and hard-line conservatives in the Freedom Caucus. Trump originally voiced his support for a one-bill solution, but later said he wouldn’t oppose a two-bill product if that is what can get his agenda implemented faster.

Trump said he was “looking forward to working with Congress” on reconciliation, promising the legislation will “financially take care of our plans to totally and permanently restore the sovereign borders of the United States once and for all.” 

He added that he will not “will not sign any bill that guts even a single penny for Medicare or Social Security” — a Democratic talking point that the caucus has been pushing since last Congress and ramped up after the GOP trifecta took power.

“We don’t have to do that. We will not touch those benefits in any way, shape, or form,” Trump said.

When it comes to tariffs, Trump said people got “a little indication” of his plans through his recent fight with Colombia.

After the country refused to allow two military planes with illegal immigrants to arrive in the country, Trump threatened 25% tariffs and economic sanctions on the country. However, the White House said on Sunday that Colombia’s government eventually agreed to meet the U.S.’s demands to repatriate illegal immigrants into the country.

“These measures are just the beginning,” Trump had written in a post to Truth Social. “We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States.”

During his speech Monday, the president said he will focus much of his economic agenda on tariffs for foreign countries to bring back the production of “essential goods” to the U.S., promising “America is going to be very rich again.”

“We’re going to protect our people and our businesses, and we’re going to protect our country with tariffs. … So if you want to share with the citizens of the United States, our own market, then you must pay for the privilege of doing it,” Trump said.

Following Trump’s speech, he will dine with lawmakers at his resort, per a copy of the members’ schedule obtained by the Washington Examiner. 

Johnson said earlier in the day that among the discussion topics include aid to California, which Trump and leadership have floated tying to reconciliation as a motive for Democrats to support the bill. Republicans and Democrats have blasted any conditions to aid, calling it “inappropriate.”