In the wake of the midterm elections, President Donald Trump acknowledged that he felt as if his deportation agenda had gone too far and hurt his party with voters.
“I think it was too tough,” Trump said in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday night. “And I think — I think ultimately, that hurt me,” he added.
The acknowledgement from Trump comes as the president just elevated one of the key architects of that policy, Stephen Miller, to replace former Chief of Staff Susie Wiles on Monday.
While Trump said the overhaul of immigration enforcement was a factor in the Republican Party’s losses across the country during the midterms, he stood behind his administration’s decisions on border security and “getting the bad ones out.”
He said the backlash came down to deporting immigrants who had “good jobs.”
“I think I got an A+ for closing up the border. I get very high marks for getting the bad ones out, but I get hurt because we also took people that had good jobs,” Trump said.
On the prospect of a possible immigration deal with Democrats following midterms, Trump acknowledged that he was open to negotiating with the opposition to try and strike a deal to create possible paths for some immigrants.
US President Donald Trump speaks at a midterm campaign rally at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida on October 30, 2026.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
“I’d love to do something on immigration,” Trump said when asked about something he thinks he can work with Democrats on.
“Well, the deal would be we would work something out. And I think it’s something — I think that’s something that’s actually doable,” Trump said.
Trump referenced immigrants who worked as cleaners, waitresses and landscapers. “When you go into a hotel and you have a woman that’s worked there as a, you know, as a maid, as a cleaner … as a waitress, a lot of good things, great jobs. And all of a sudden they’re being taken out of the country. It’s tough. It’s a tough thing.”
“Let the people that are here and in some cases here for 10 and 15 years, work a deal for them,” Trump said.
On a potential deal, Trump asserted, “People have already called me,” though he did not say who.
Asked if he could refrain from insulting Democrats for six months in order to strike a deal, Trump said that he could.
