"Too tough": Trump Says Deportations May Have Hurt Him

President Donald Trump acknowledged that his deportation crackdown hurt him politically and said he would like to make a deal with Democrats, potentially allowing some long-term undocumented residents to stay. ^[2]

In a 60 Minutes interview broadcast on November 8, Trump said his policy might have been "too tough." He distinguished between removing people he described as dangerous and deporting people who had jobs and whose only violation, in his description, was entering the United States illegally. ^[2][3]

He suggested an accommodation for some people who had lived in the country for 10 or 15 years, while continuing to remove people convicted of serious crimes. Such a deal was "actually doable," he said. ^[2]

The interview announced no enforcement change. The proposed arrangement has no published eligibility rules or defined legal status, and which Democrats would support it is unknown. For now, the Department of Homeland Security says it will not be "backing away or slowing down." ^[2][5]

The opening follows Republicans' loss of both chambers in the November 3 midterms. Trump will face an opposition-controlled Congress while retaining his veto. Democrats take control in January, giving the president prospective negotiating partners who will also have the power to investigate his administration. ^[2][5]

The political cost Trump now acknowledges

Trump's account of the election drew a line through his own immigration policy. He said closing the border and removing people he called "the bad ones" had earned him high marks, while deporting workers had damaged him. Enforcement, in his telling, had both helped and hurt. ^[2][3]

Exit polling gives that distinction some weight. According to figures published by CBS News, 58% of voters thought the administration's immigration actions had gone too far. Yet voters still trusted Republicans slightly more than Democrats to handle immigration, by 43% to 41%. ^[3]

Those numbers leave room for a bargain that preserves border enforcement while narrowing the reach of deportations. They do not give either party a clear mandate for its entire immigration agenda.

The practical dispute concerns whom the government arrests. CBS News said a large share of those arrested by the administration had no criminal records beyond immigration offenses. The administration says it targets the "worst first," but also warns that anyone in the country illegally can be arrested and deported. ^[3]

An agreement allowing established residents to stay would therefore require the administration to draw a firmer boundary around enforcement. Trump's distinction between dangerous offenders and workers is a negotiating position. Turning it into a rule would require deciding who qualifies and what protection they receive.

Trump said he believed some Democrats wanted an agreement and that people had already contacted him. He named James Talarico, the newly elected Texas senator, during the exchange, without identifying the others he said had reached out. That is Trump's account of the contacts, not evidence that negotiations have produced agreed terms. ^[2]

The machinery is still moving

Inside the administration, the immediate signals point toward continued enforcement. Multiple U.S. officials told CBS News they had received no instructions to reduce it after the midterms. They spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak to the media. ^[5]

Agency sources told CBS that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, had recently been instructed to aim for about 19,000 arrests a week, roughly 2,700 a day. The previous target was 2,000 a day. According to those sources, the higher target was set before the election. ^[5]

That is an increase of roughly 35% in the daily target. It measures what agents were being asked to achieve, not how many people they actually arrested. ^[5]

The personnel decision preceding the interview was equally significant. On November 6, Trump named Stephen Miller to replace Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff. Miller is an architect of the immigration crackdown. ^[1][5]

Putting him in charge of the White House staff two days before broadcasting an opening to Democrats leaves Trump with two choices to reconcile: an enforcement operation built for a broader crackdown and a proposed exception for some of the people it could reach.

What Democrats can bargain over

Democrats' strongest immediate leverage will come from Congress. Theresa Cardinal Brown, a former Homeland Security immigration official under the Bush and Obama administrations, said they could use subpoenas, oversight hearings and funding measures to try to constrain ICE. ^[5]

Hearings could force officials to explain whom agents are arresting and how enforcement priorities work. Spending legislation could become a vehicle for proposed restrictions. But Brown said Trump would probably veto attempts to restrict enforcement, and noted that legislation he signed the previous year had already provided ICE with $75 billion through 2029. ^[5]

Democrats can demand answers more readily than they can compel a change in policy. Their opportunity in negotiations is to seek durable protection for residents Trump now says might be allowed to stay. His opportunity is to seek Democratic agreement on enforcement provisions in return.

There is at least one public Republican opening beyond the president. French Hill, a Republican congressman from Arkansas, said on Face the Nation that immigration reform could offer scope for bipartisan work. He identified asylum, temporary protected status and issues affecting children of people with legal status as possible subjects, while stressing border security. ^[4]

Those subjects extend beyond the long-term residents Trump mentioned. A broader package would give negotiators more to trade and more to disagree about.

The first test comes before any congressional vote: whether the White House turns Trump's suggested accommodation into a written proposal or instructions changing whom agents target.