President Donald Trump said in a newly aired 60 Minutes interview that his deportation crackdown both helped and hurt politically and that the policy might be too tough, according to the CBS transcript and The Post Millennials account of the broadcast.
Speaking with Ross Douthat in his first post-midterm 60 Minutes interview, Trump said he would love to do something on immigration with a Democratic majority. Asked whether the crackdown hurt him, he answered, I think it both helped and hurt, adding, I think I got an A+ for closing up the border and very high marks for getting the bad ones out.
He said he was hurt because the administration also removed people who had good jobs and whose only violation was entering illegally. Now, there is a large part of the country that think that they should be put out, Trump said, while others think that they should be allowed to stay if theyre good people working in a landscaping company, or workin in a hotel, and in some cases paying taxes.
When Douthat asked whether the deportation policy went too far, Trump replied, Too tough, then clarified, I think it might be too tough, yeah. He said a deal with Democrats on some form of legal status for long-employed migrants was actually doable, describing hotel maids and waitresses who have worked for years being removed as a tough thing.
Trump also said some people on the sort of pretty far right want everybody removed, while others prefer a more limited approach focused on the killers, the rough ones, and the drug dealers. The interview was taped Friday, before he named Stephen Miller White House chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles, and CBS noted that Friday staff change in its coverage of the Sunday broadcast.
Trump still defended border-enforcement results even as he floated compromise language. The exchange is an on-camera statement of openness to a limited deal, not an enacted policy change or a repeal of mass-deportation operations.
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