President Donald Trump acknowledged in a broadcast interview that his administration’s aggressive deportation strategy may have gone too far and contributed to his party’s losses in the midterm elections.
Speaking on CBS’s 60 Minutes in an interview that aired on Sunday, Trump reflected on the political fallout from his immigration enforcement operations.
“I think it might be too tough, yeah,” Trump said, noting that while the border crackdown received high marks for removing criminal elements, it also affected individuals with clean records and stable employment.
Despite the hardline enforcement, Trump expressed optimism about reaching an immigration compromise with the incoming Democratic majority in Congress.
“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 stated.
While he maintained that violent criminals and drug dealers should still be targeted for removal, Trump suggested he is open to legalizing status for productive undocumented workers.
“If they’re good people working in a landscaping company, or working in a hotel, or doing something, right? And in some cases, paying taxes,” he added.
However, critics remain skeptical of a genuine shift in strategy. Shortly before the interview aired, Trump appointed Stephen Miller—the architect of his hardline immigration agenda—as his new White House chief of staff.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer dismissed the president’s remarks on social media, writing:
“Trump says his immigration crackdown went too far. Apparently, his solution was to put the man responsible for it in charge of the White House. That’s not a course correction. That’s a promotion.”
On the Republican race to succeed him in 2028, Trump hinted that he may stay neutral, praising potential contenders like Secretary of State Marco Rubio while emphasizing the party’s strong bench of candidates.