USAupdated 22m ago2 min read
Trump Tells 60 Minutes Deportation Policy Was “Too Tough,” Floats Immigration Deal With Democrats
“Some Massachusetts immigration advocates are skeptical of President Donald Trump's admission his deportation policy was ‘too tough.’”
“Democrats said Miller's elevation to chief of staff sends the opposite signal on an immigration deal.”
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Trump called mass deportation policy too harsh in 60 Minutes interview. He floated a potential immigration deal with Democratic lawmakers.
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Trump questions deportations
President Donald Trump told CBS' 60 Minutes that his mass deportation policy was "too tough," saying he believed his immigration policies "both helped and hurt" him in the midterm elections. Trump said he felt he had gotten "an A+" for closing up the border and for "getting the bad ones out," but he said he "get hurt" because the policy also took people who had "good jobs" and created "one violation" for entering the country illegally. Trump told Ross Douthat that he thought the deportation approach "might be too tough," and he said he believed a different pathway could be "doable" with Democrats.
Trump said the proposed deal would involve legal status for undocumented immigrants without criminal records, and he said Democrats would be interested in achieving an immigration deal because "people have already called." The White House defended Trump’s enforcement record by saying, "Thanks to his efforts, more than 3 million illegal aliens have left the U.S."
Reactions and political divide
Adam Klein, a former senior DHS official and co-founder of Globali.ai, told Newsweek that Trump "seems to recognize something that has been largely absent from the administration's approach to enforcement."
Klein said removing people who are unlawfully present but not criminals can have "serious consequences for families, employers and communities," framing Trump’s comments as a shift in how enforcement is viewed.
World Relief President and CEO Myal Greene praised Trump’s remarks and said, "We agree with President Trump that the deportation efforts of the past two years have gone too far," while urging lawmakers to forge consensus policy reforms.
Miami Republican U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar told Trump, "Well done, Mr. President!" and said what he described in the interview was "the core of the Dignity legislation."
The White House said Trump "never said the word amnesty" and added that Trump is "willing to work with anyone" to improve the lives of Americans.
What comes next
Trump said he was open to working with Democrats on immigration and he told Douthat that "The deal would be, we would work something out," while he also said he believed the policy "ultimately" hurt him. NBC News reported that Trump said his policies were "too tough" because mass deportations removed undocumented immigrants who "hadn't committed crimes," and Trump said a "large group of people" think such immigrants should be "allowed to stay." The Miami Herald reported that Trump’s post-election decision to replace chief of staff Susie Wiles with Stephen Miller might suggest he has no plans to moderate, while it also described Salazar awaiting results of a Monday morning recount in Florida’s 27th Congressional District.
France 24 reported that Trump appointed Stephen Miller as chief of staff on Friday, and it said the appointment signaled a "bare-knuckle fightback" after Republicans’ election loss. OSV News said Trump told Douthat that he believed Democrats in Congress would be interested in achieving an immigration deal and that "people have already called me."