"Too tough": Trump Says Deportations May Have Hurt Him
After Republicans lost both chambers of Congress, the president suggested letting some long-term undocumented residents stay. His administration is still pressing ahead with the crackdown.
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by Sami Haddad
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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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
