Trump Says His Deportation Crackdown Was ‘Too Tough’ and Floats an Immigration Deal With Democrats

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 (TodayViralUSA) — President Donald Trump acknowledged in an interview broadcast Sunday that his administration’s deportation drive may have gone too far for many voters, saying the crackdown cost Republicans support in last week’s midterm elections and signaling he is open to an immigration deal with the incoming Democratic Congress.

“I think it was too tough,” Trump told CBS’ “60 Minutes” correspondent Ross Douthat in the interview, which was recorded Friday, three days after Republicans lost control of both chambers of Congress.

‘Both helped and hurt’

Trump said his immigration record “both helped and hurt” him at the polls. He claimed he “got an A+ for closing up the border” and “very high marks for getting the bad ones out,” but said the administration had also detained people “that had good jobs” whose only violation was entering the country illegally.

The president said a large part of the country believes such immigrants should be removed, while another large part believes they should be allowed to stay “if they’re good people working in a landscaping company, or working in a hotel,” and in some cases paying taxes.

Asked whether a deal with Democrats could include some form of legal status for workers in those categories, Trump agreed, Just The News reported. “The deal would be we would work something out,” he said, according to The Associated Press. “I think that’s something that’s actually doable.” He did not offer specifics.

Miller move clouds the message

The remarks sit awkwardly with Trump’s personnel decisions. Hours after the interview was taped, he named Stephen Miller — widely regarded as the architect of the administration’s hard-line immigration agenda — to replace Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff. It remains unclear whether the administration intends to change its enforcement strategy.

Under Trump’s second term, illegal border crossings have dropped sharply while interior arrests and detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement have reached record levels, CBS News reported. A large share of those arrested have no criminal record beyond immigration offenses.

Voters signaled unease

Republican support fell steeply in South Texas and other heavily Latino areas that had swung toward the GOP two years ago. In exit polling cited by CBS, 58% of voters said the administration’s immigration actions had gone too far, though voters still narrowly trusted Republicans over Democrats on the issue, 43% to 41%.

Politico noted that the comments are likely to frustrate immigration hard-liners already uneasy with the president’s repeated overtures to Democrats. Separately, Politico reported that Trump pushed back on a post by Vice President JD Vance about the Iran war, largely agreeing that the conflict hurt Republicans in the midterms but saying he would make the same call again.

Asked whether he could refrain from insulting Democrats while negotiating with them, Trump replied: “I could. Very easily.”