Trump Admits Deportations Went Too Far, Floats Deal With Democrats on Legal Status for Illegal Workers
President Trump told 60 Minutes he is open to working with a Democratic majority on immigration, signaling a shift after the midterms. He said the crackdown that closed the border and removed criminals earned high marks, but also hurt because it swept up people who had been in the country for years.
“I think it was too tough. I think it might be too tough, yeah,” Trump said when asked if the deportation policy went too far. He described the dual impact: “I think I got an A+ for closing up the border. I get very high marks for getting the bad ones out. 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.”
Trump noted a split in public opinion, with some wanting everyone removed and others wanting long-term workers kept if they hold jobs in landscaping, hotels, or similar fields and in some cases pay taxes. He described the practical difficulty: “When you go into a hotel and you have a woman that’s worked there as a, you know, as a maid, as a cleaner, as a this, as a that, as a waitress, a lot of good things, great jobs, and all of a sudden they’re being taken out of the country, it’s tough. It’s a tough thing.”
He acknowledged hardline views inside his own administration. “There’s a group of people that I would say on the sort of pretty far right that would like everybody taken out,” Trump said, confirming some of those people are in the building. He distinguished them from more moderate voices who want killers, drug dealers, and other serious offenders removed first, then a negotiated arrangement for people here 10 or 15 years.
On a possible deal with Democrats, Trump was direct. “I’d love to do something on immigration,” he said. “The deal would be we would work something out, and I think it’s something—I think that’s something that’s actually doable.” He indicated it could include legal status for established workers and claimed interest already exists on the other side: “I think so, yeah. People have already called me.”