Trump says his deportation crackdown was 'too tough' — and opens the door to an immigration deal
Photo: Felix Marquez/AP (file photo)President Donald Trump said his own deportation drive may have been "too tough," telling CBS's 60 Minutes that the crackdown "both helped and hurt" Republicans in last week's midterm elections — and opening the door to an immigration deal with Democrats for longtime residents with jobs.
Asked by correspondent Ross Douthat whether his deportation policy had gone too far, Trump answered plainly. "It was too tough. I think it might be too tough," he said in the interview, which was recorded Friday and aired Sunday night.
Trump gave himself an "A+ for closing up the border" and "very high marks for getting the bad ones out." But he said he was hurt politically "because we also took people that had good jobs" — people working for a landscaping company or a hotel and paying taxes, whose only violation, in his words, was that they came into the country illegally. He pointed in particular to immigrants who have lived in the United States for ten years or more without committing serious crimes.
It was a striking concession from a president who made mass deportation the centerpiece of his second term. The interview aired five days after Republicans lost control of both chambers of Congress in the November 3 midterms. CBS News exit polling found that 58 percent of voters believed the administration's immigration actions had gone too far.
Trump said he would "love to do something on immigration" with congressional Democrats, who will control both chambers when the new Congress is seated. He suggested an arrangement could accommodate people who have been in the country for 10 and 15 years, holding good jobs — but he offered no bill, no eligibility rules and no timetable.
For now, the concession comes with no policy change. No written enforcement rule has changed, and the White House has announced no new policy. And on Friday, Trump named Stephen Miller — widely seen as the architect of the deportation policy — as his new chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles.
The scale of the crackdown is vast. The administration has deported nearly 1 million people in the first 18 months since January 2025, and about 71 percent of those deported had no criminal conviction, according to an October 2026 analysis by the Migration Policy Institute.
Sources: CNN, "Trump's regrets on immigration enforcement, and other takeaways from his '60 Minutes' interview" (Nov. 8, 2026, full text verified); The Arizona Republic, "Will Trump make immigration deal with Democrats after 'blue tsunami'?" (Nov. 9, 2026). Event date verified: the 60 Minutes interview aired Sunday, November 8, 2026, five days after the November 3 midterm elections; the "too tough" remarks, the deal opening and the 58 percent exit-poll figure were confirmed by both sources.
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