FILE - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detain a person, Jan. 27, 2025, in Silver Spring, Md. -

Last updated: 42 minutes ago

Immigration

In an unexpected about-turn, US President Donald Trump has said his administration's deportation policy was "too tough."

Speaking to the CBS programme '60 Minutes' in an interview aired on Sunday, Trump blamed his Republican party's midterm wipe out in part on the aggressive immigration crackdown.

Trump's second term has been marked by major operations in multiple cities where agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement - known as ICE - pursued and violently arrested people suspected of being in the US illegally.

Two US citizens - Renee Good and Alex Pretti - were fatally shot by ICE agents during protests against the operations. Dozens of people in the country legally - including US citizens - have also been unfairly detained.

A key feature of Trump's deportation policy has been removing people to countries other than their own. In all some 25,000 noncitizens deported from the US have been transferred to countries in Africa, Asia, Central America and the Caribbean.

Trump said he believes that “killers” and “drug dealers” in the country illegally should be deported, but suggested he was open to the idea of a deal that would let others stay “if they’re good people working...and in some cases, paying taxes.”

He also opened the door to working with Democrats in the new Congress on some kind of immigration deal.

But soon after taping the interview, Trump name the architect of the immigration policy, Stephen Miller, to White House chief of staff.

Trump says "tough" US deportation policy may explain midterm losses

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