Trump reflects on midterm losses in ‘60 Minutes’ interview, says deportation policy may have been ‘too tough’

President Donald Trump weighed in on Republicans’ midterm losses in a “60 Minutes” interview that aired Nov. 8, saying his administration’s deportation policy might have been “too tough” and the Iran war hurt his party politically while defending his economic record and suggesting he could reach an immigration deal with Democrats.

Speaking with CBS News’ Ross Douthat at the White House Nov. 6, Trump said immigration enforcement had “both helped and hurt” Republicans at the polls.

“I think I got an A-plus for closing up the border,” the President said. “I get very high marks for getting the bad ones out, but I get hurt because we also took people that had good jobs that created one violation for breaking of the law, and that was that they came into the country illegally.”

“Now, there is a large part of the country that think that they should be put out,” Trump continued. “And there’s a large part of the country that think that they should be allowed to stay if they’re good people, working in a landscaping company, or working in a hotel, or doing something, right? And in some cases, paying taxes.”

He added that his deportation policy “might be too tough” and floated a potential deal with the incoming Democratic majorities in Congress that would continue removing people he described as killers, drug dealers, and other serious criminals while allowing some illegal immigrants who have lived and worked in the country for years to stay, compromising on other elements of his longtime immigration policy. 

“The deal would be, we would work something out,” he said. “And I think that’s something that’s actually doable.” 

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