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Donald Trump admitted that he had been “too tough” on immigration and offered to work with Democrats on an amnesty agreement for migrants, a sign that he could temper his deportation campaign in the wake of the Republicans’ midterm rout.
The president said in a television interview broadcast Sunday that some voters had been turned off by the harshness of his administration’s approach to immigration.
“I think it might be too harsh,” Trump told CBS. 60 minutes program, referring to his expulsion campaign.
He said federal agents have also deported “people who had good jobs,” adding, “A lot of the country thinks they should be allowed to stay if they’re good people.” »
Trump acknowledged that “there’s a group of people I would say more on the far right who would like to see everyone eliminated” but said others had a “more modified” view.
“In other words, get the killers out, get all the tough guys out, get the drug dealers out – but let the people who have been here, and in some cases here for 10 or 15 years, make a deal for them.”
The president made immigration a central plank of his re-election campaign two years ago and has waged a sweeping crackdown since taking office, deporting large numbers of undocumented immigrants and beefing up border security.
But the deportation campaign, which has seen Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents carry out raids in communities across the country, has led to horrific scenes, public shootings and multiple deaths. Polls suggest voters felt this went too far.
Asked if he thought some sort of agreement on “legal status” with Democrats was possible, Trump told CBS that it was “something that’s actually achievable.” He added that he would be willing to work with lawmakers such as Texas Sen.-elect James Talarico to achieve reform.
The interview was filmed Friday morning, shortly before Trump announced he was nominating Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner, as chief of staff.
In an unusually frank admission, Trump also acknowledged that his “bad messaging” on the economy had cost Republicans voters, despite what he described as “historically good numbers” and “the highest stock market in history.”
Trump said he did not disagree with JD Vance’s assessment that the war in Iran was the ultimate reason Republicans lost the midterm elections. But he said he stood by his decision to start war “because you cannot let Iran have nuclear weapons.”
The president also indicated he was willing to work with Democrats on AI safety, insisting he was not opposed to implementing regulations as long as they did not abandon the United States’ leadership position in the area.
“The guardrails don’t bother me,” Trump said. “But I don’t want to put us in second place. We are at the top of the rankings. And China has no safeguards.”
But Trump made clear that any detente with Democrats would only go so far, going after his perceived enemies — including former Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former FBI Director James Comey — whom he admitted he could never forgive even if it cost him entry to heaven.
“I found them extremely dishonest, very bad, very bad for our country. I love our country much more than I can love people and people like that,” he said.
“I probably can’t do that,” Trump said of pardoning them. “Because I hate some of my enemies and I always will.”
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