Newsletters
U.S. President Donald Trump said his administration’s deportation crackdown "might be too tough" and acknowledged it hurt him politically, signaling openness to an immigration deal with Democrats after Republicans lost control of Congress in the midterm elections.
"I think it might be too tough, yeah. And a lot of people would say that it’s great. But a lot of people think it’s too tough," Trump said in an interview with Ross Douthat aired on CBS’ 60 Minutes.
"I think ultimately that hurt me," he noted.
The interview was recorded Friday, hours before it was announced that Stephen Miller, a longtime adviser known for his hard-line immigration stance, would replace Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff.
Trump said immigration "both helped and hurt" Republicans.
"I think I got an A+ for closing up the border," he said, adding: "But I get hurt because we also took people that had good jobs, that created one violation, or breaking of the law, and that was that they came into the country illegally."
"When you go into a hotel and you have a woman that’s worked there as a maid, as a cleaner, as a this, as a that, as a waitress, a lot of good things, great job, and all of a sudden, they’re being taken out of the country, it’s tough. It’s a tough thing," Trump said.
Trump described three groups.
"There’s a group of people that I would say on the sort of pretty far right that would like everybody taken out," he said.
Asked whether some of those people work in his administration, he said: "Yes. Well, there’re a lot of those people."
A second group favors a more moderate approach: "Get the killers out. Get the rapists out. Get the drug dealers out. But let the people that are here, and in some cases here for 10 and 15 years, work a deal for them," he said.
He called a third group, sanctuary cities, "very dangerous."
Asked what he would like to work on with the new Democratic majority, Trump said: “I’d love to do something on immigration." The deal "would be we would work something out. And I think that’s something that’s actually doable," he said.
Trump said Democrats had already called him, including Texas Senator-elect James Talarico and South Carolina’s winner. Asked whether he could stop insulting Democrats for six months to reach a deal, he said: "Very easily."
1 min read
Trump said he might not endorse a successor in 2028.
"Probably. Not necessarily," he said, adding, "Maybe I’m better off not getting involved."
Besides Vice President JD Vance, he praised Secretary of State Marco Rubio: "I think Marco’s great. He’s doing a fantastic job."
"MAGA is basically common sense," he said of the movement’s future without him. He blamed the midterm losses partly on "bad messaging, maybe by me," and cited the Iran war, gas prices and "a great dislike, incredibly, for Israel."
Speaking to reporters in West Palm Beach on Sunday, Trump also defended Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who face impeachment threats from Democrats, calling them "very fine people."
He said Hegseth’s only shortcomings were "winning two wars," referring to Iran and Venezuela.
The House is expected to vote this week on whether to impeach Hegseth.
Trump said "a lot of people didn’t like" Vance’s post blaming the Iran war for the losses, "but not me," adding that Vance should have said whether the administration would go to war again. "My answer is an emphatic yes because you can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon," Trump told 60 Minutes.
Trump’s comments on deportation policy mark a notable shift in tone as Miller takes over as chief of staff.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
