Trump Admits Deportation Policy May Have Been “Too Tough” After Midterm Defeat

Washington DC: President Donald Trump has acknowledged that his deportation policy may have gone too far and said he is open to an immigration deal with Democrats, in a concession after Republicans suffered a heavy defeat in the midterm elections.

In an interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes broadcast on Sunday, Trump told correspondent Ross Douthat that the crackdown might have been too harsh, noting that while many people praise it, many others think it went too far. He said it had both helped and hurt him.

Trump said an agreement with Democrats was achievable. It would target killers, rapists and drug dealers for removal while letting some long-term residents, in some cases people who have been in the country 10 or 15 years, work out a deal to stay. He said some Democrats had already contacted him, and when asked whether he could stop name-calling for six months to get a deal, said he could do so very easily. The remarks appeared at odds with his decision on Friday to promote Stephen Miller, the architect of the crackdown, to White House chief of staff. Under Trump’s second term, ICE raids at workplaces, homes and public spaces have caught people without criminal records and separated families, and federal agents fatally shot two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis earlier this year.

He blamed the war with Iran, higher petrol prices and what he called growing dislike of Israel for much of the midterm loss, agreeing with Vice President JD Vance that the conflict was a major factor. He also conceded his economic messaging had been poor and said he was open to AI guardrails if they did not put the US in second place.