United States President, Donald Trump, has admitted that his administration’s mass deportation policy targeting undocumented immigrants may have been excessively harsh, saying the approach could have hurt him politically following the Republican Party’s losses in the midterm elections.
Trump made the remarks during an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes”, an excerpt of which was aired on Sunday ahead of the full broadcast.
Speaking about the deportation policy, the US President said, “I think it was too tough…I think it might be too tough.”
According to the excerpt released by CBS on X, Trump also acknowledged that the policy ultimately “hurt” him, while attributing part of the Republicans’ midterm electoral setback to “bad messaging.”
The interview was recorded after the Republican Party suffered a significant defeat in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Although Trump’s efforts to secure the US southern border have attracted support from some sections of the population, his administration’s aggressive campaign to deport millions of undocumented immigrants has faced widespread criticism.
Despite the electoral setback, Trump on Friday appointed Stephen Miller, the principal architect of his hardline immigration policy, as his chief of staff, signalling a tougher response to the Republican Party’s election losses.
Miller has been a prominent figure in the administration’s immigration crackdown and has faced criticism over his support for federal immigration agents involved in the fatal shootings of two Americans earlier this year.
His appointment is seen as an indication that Trump intends to maintain a hardline stance on immigration despite his admission that the deportation policy may have been too harsh.
