After disastrous elections, Trump calls his migration policy 'perhaps too strict'
In his first major TV interview since his Republicans lost the majority in Congress, President Trump said last night that his immigration policy "may have been too strict." He thinks he can make agreements about that policy with the Democrats, who will be the largest in both chambers of Congress starting in January.
"I think maybe we were too strict. That cost me votes," reasoned Trump. "Many people are moderate. They want the bad guys gone, the murderers and drug dealers, but they also want to make agreements about people who have been here for 10, 15 years."
Trump appeared more moderate in the interview than before:
In the midterm elections last week, it became clear that Trump's popularity among Latino voters has plummeted. Besides the rising cost of living, the tightened immigration policy scared off many Latino voters. Many Latinos, who form the largest minority in the US, are worried that they or their loved ones could be deported.
How a "deal" with the Democrats on migration should look was left open by Trump in the conversation with 60 Minutes. It is also uncertain how lenient he will become: shortly after the interview was recorded on Friday, he appointed hardliner Stephen Miller as his new chief of staff. This Miller is one of the main architects of the tough immigration policy Trump has pursued over the past two years.
'No course correction'
Trump promised voters in the 2024 presidential elections "the largest deportation of criminals in the United States ever." Once in power, he tripled the budget for the immigration service ICE and sent the National Guard to states where people took to the streets in protest against the mass arrests of migrants.
During those protests, American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti died due to actions by federal agents. After Pretti's death, who legally carried a weapon, Miller was quick to label him a "domestic terrorist" and called him a "potential murderer who wanted to kill federal law enforcement officers."
The Democrats are not exactly impressed by the president's words. "Trump says his tough immigration policy went too far," responded Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate after the broadcast. "Apparently, his solution was to give the man responsible for that the leadership of the White House. That is not a course correction. That is a promotion."
For the Democrats, oversight of the immigration service ICE and the Department of Homeland Security is a priority when they gain the majority in the US parliament early next year. These two agencies form the engine of Trump's migration policy, with controversial arrests and deportations to, for example, El Salvador and several African countries.
In the TV interview, Trump said he believes that "murderers" and "drug dealers" who reside illegally in the US should be deported. At the same time, he hinted that others without residence papers might be allowed to stay. "If they are good people who, for example, work in horticulture or a hotel - and sometimes even pay taxes."
Ignored
So far, the Trump administration has paid little attention to that distinction. In recent years, ICE agents have sought illegal migrants in places where mainly labor migrants come or work, such as factories and farms. Courts where migrants try to obtain papers through legal means are now also authorized arrest locations.
The administration has also not always complied with judicial rulings regarding deportations. For example, last year the US carried out a deportation flight with over 250 alleged gang members from Venezuela to El Salvador, despite a ban from a US judge. Trump claimed to rely on a war law from 1798 that has hardly been used since.