Trump Says His Deportation Policy Was ‘Too Tough’ After Midterm Losses in 60 Minutes Interview

US President Donald Trump has admitted that his mass deportation policy may have gone too far, telling CBS News that the crackdown was “too tough” and that it hurt his party in last week’s midterm elections.

The comments came in an interview on the 60 Minutes programme that aired on Sunday, 8 November — Trump’s first major sit-down interview since the Republicans lost control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate on 3 November. It is one of the clearest public retreats yet from a policy that has defined his second presidency.

“I think it was too tough,” Trump said when correspondent Ross Douthat asked whether the deportation drive had gone too far. “I think it might be too tough.”

This article explains what Trump said, why he said it now, what kind of deal he is offering Democrats, and what it means for the millions of undocumented immigrants living in the United States.

What Trump actually said about deportations

Trump began by defending his record on the border. He gave himself top marks for shutting down illegal crossings, and said he deserved high marks for removing people convicted of serious crimes.

“I think I got an A plus for closing up the border,” he said. “For getting people out, I get very high marks for getting the bad ones out.”

But then he drew a line between those removals and the wider deportation campaign, which has swept up people with no criminal record beyond entering the country illegally.

“But I get hurt because we also took people that had good jobs, that created one violation, or breaking of the law, and that was that they came into the country illegally,” he said.

He gave a simple example of the kind of case he meant: a woman working in a hotel as a maid, a cleaner or a waitress, doing a good job for years, suddenly taken out of the country.

“When you go into a hotel and you have a woman that’s worked there as — you know, as a maid, as a cleaner, as a this, as a that, as a waitress, a lotta good things, great job — and all of a sudden, they’re being taken outta the country, it’s tough,” he said.

Trump summed up the politics of the issue in a single line: immigration “both helped and hurt” his party. The border crackdown won him support, he said, but the deportations of long-settled workers cost him votes.

Why the timing matters: the midterm defeat

The interview was recorded on Friday, three days after the midterm elections delivered a heavy defeat for the Republicans. Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress, flipping seats across the country in what many commentators have called a sweeping setback for Trump.

The president has spent the days since the election working out what went wrong. In the 60 Minutes interview, he pointed to several causes, including rising petrol prices and what he called bad messaging from his own party. But immigration was the subject he spent the most time on — and the one where he conceded the most ground.

The numbers back up his worry. An Associated Press survey of more than 100,000 voters on election day found that about six in ten said the Trump administration’s actions on immigration enforcement had “gone too far”. Immigration ranked as the third most important issue for voters, behind the economy and the state of democracy.

That is a striking shift. Deporting undocumented immigrants was one of Trump’s most popular promises, and the issue helped him win the presidency. But the way the policy has been carried out — with large-scale raids, workplace arrests and a sharp rise in daily arrest targets — appears to have turned many voters against it. According to CBS, immigration officials have recently been told to aim for about 2,700 arrests of undocumented immigrants a day, up from an earlier target of about 2,000.

The reaction from Democrats was swift, and sceptical. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer posted on social media after the interview aired: “Trump says his immigration crackdown went too far.”

A deal with Democrats? What Trump offered

The most surprising part of the interview was Trump’s openness to a deal with the newly empowered Democrats on immigration — an issue on which the two parties have failed to agree for decades.

Trump said he believed an agreement was possible, and that it was “something that’s actually doable”. The outline he sketched was simple: serious criminals would still be deported, but long-term residents who work and pay taxes could be allowed to stay.

“I think the deal would be we would work something out,” he said. People who have lived in the United States for 10 or 15 years, who are working in jobs such as landscaping or hotels and in some cases paying taxes, could remain legally. “Killers, rapists and drug dealers” would still be removed.

When Douthat asked whether he could stop insulting Democrats for six months to get a deal done, Trump replied: “Very easily.”

Whether such a deal is realistic is another matter. Just hours after recording the interview on Friday, Trump appointed Stephen Miller — the architect of his hardline immigration policy — as his new White House chief of staff. Miller is one of the strongest voices in the administration for mass deportations, and his promotion signals that the policy itself is not being abandoned.

The Department of Homeland Security has also insisted it is not backing away from the crackdown. That tension — a president talking about compromise while his administration tightens enforcement — will be one of the first tests of whether Trump’s words mean anything in practice.

For the millions of undocumented immigrants living in the United States, the interview changes nothing yet. No policy has changed, no programme has been announced, and no one has been given new protection. What has changed is the tone at the top — and the fact that the president himself now accepts that the policy went further than voters wanted.

Ukraine: “a little bit different shape”

The interview was not only about immigration. Trump also spoke about the war in Ukraine, and predicted it would end soon — with Ukraine’s borders redrawn.

“I believe that that war is going to end, and it’s gonna end soon. And the only reason it’s gonna end is because of me,” he said. Asked about the terms of a possible settlement, he said Ukraine would emerge with “a little bit different shape”.

That prediction comes just before a new round of diplomacy. The United States is bringing delegations from Ukraine and Russia together in Abu Dhabi on 10 and 11 November to discuss ending the war, post-war security agreements and de-escalation. European countries will also take part in the discussions, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot confirmed on Sunday.

The Abu Dhabi talks follow the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Paris, where America’s allies are trying to work out whether Trump’s midterm defeat changes his approach to Ukraine and other foreign policy questions. Diplomats at the Paris meeting warned against expecting a return to traditional US multilateralism, saying foreign policy remains firmly under Trump’s control.

Trump said the biggest obstacle to a settlement was the hostility between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He declined to say which of the two leaders he trusted more, but rejected the suggestion that Putin was deliberately delaying negotiations. He also defended his record on Russia, saying he had been tougher on Moscow than any other US president through trade measures and sanctions.

What else came up: Iran, 2028 and pardons

Trump also defended his decision to attack Iran earlier this year, a war that his own vice president, JD Vance, has blamed for the Republicans’ midterm losses. Trump said Vance was right that the war hurt the party — but added that if he had to order the attacks again, he would do so without hesitation.

The Iran question is still live. In a separate interview with CNN on Sunday, Trump said new strikes on Iran were “highly unlikely” if talks to end the war keep making progress, while warning that three American aircraft carriers remain off Iran’s coast, “fully locked and loaded”.

On his own political future, Trump suggested he might not endorse a Republican successor ahead of the 2028 presidential election, and said he had no intention of forgiving his political enemies. Both remarks underline how much of the Republican Party’s future still revolves around him, even after a bruising election defeat.

What happens next

Three things to watch in the coming days and weeks:

1. The Abu Dhabi talks (10–11 November). The Ukraine negotiations are the most immediate test of Trump’s claim that the war will end soon. If they produce anything concrete, it will be the first sign that his prediction was more than talk.

2. The new Congress. Democrats take control of the House and Senate in January. If Trump is serious about an immigration deal, that is when the real negotiations would have to happen — and when we will learn whether his offer of compromise survives contact with his own party and his new chief of staff.

3. The deportation numbers. The clearest evidence of whether anything has changed will be in the enforcement figures. If daily arrests stay at the higher target of about 2,700, the crackdown continues whatever the president said on television. If the numbers fall, or if workplace raids ease, that will be the first real sign of a shift.

For now, the interview matters most as a political signal. A president who built his career on hardline immigration enforcement has publicly admitted, in his own words, that it went too far. Whether that admission becomes a policy change — or just a line in a television interview — is the question that will decide what happens next.

Frequently asked questions

What did Trump say about his deportation policy?

In a 60 Minutes interview that aired on 8 November, Trump said his administration’s deportation policy was “too tough” and that it had hurt Republicans in the midterm elections. He said he deserved an “A plus” for closing the border, but admitted that deporting people with good jobs and no criminal record beyond entering the country illegally had cost him politically.

Did Trump say he would stop deportations?

No. Trump did not announce any change to the policy. He said serious criminals and drug dealers should still be deported. What he offered was openness to a deal with Democrats that would let some long-term undocumented residents — people who have lived in the US for 10 or 15 years, work and pay taxes — stay legally.

When were the midterm elections, and what happened?

The midterm elections were held on 3 November 2026. Democrats won control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, a major defeat for Trump’s Republican Party. An Associated Press survey of more than 100,000 voters found about six in ten believed immigration enforcement had “gone too far”.

What did Trump say about Ukraine?

Trump predicted the war in Ukraine would end soon, and said the country would emerge with “a little bit different shape”. Talks between Ukraine and Russia, mediated by the United States, are scheduled for 10–11 November in Abu Dhabi, with European countries also taking part.

Who interviewed Trump, and when was it recorded?

The interview was conducted by CBS 60 Minutes correspondent Ross Douthat. It was recorded on Friday, 6 November, and aired on Sunday, 8 November. It was Trump’s first major sit-down interview since the midterm elections.

Sources

• The Wall Street Journal: “Five takeaways from Trump’s 60 Minutes interview” — https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/five-takeaways-from-trumps-60-minutes-interview-7a0e306b
• The Korea Times: “Trump says his deportation policy ‘might have been too tough’ for voters in the election” — https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/world/20261109/trump-says-his-deportation-policy-might-have-been-too-tough-for-voters-in-the-election
• The Times of India: “Immigration policy too tough: 5 key takeaways from Trump’s 60 Minutes interview after midterm setback” — https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/immigration-policy-too-tough-5-key-takeaways-from-trumps-60-minutes-interview-after-midterm-setback/articleshow/135668066.cms
• KBC: “Trump says immigration crackdown was too tough and played part in midterms defeat” — https://www.kbc.co.ke/trump-says-immigration-crackdown-was-too-tough-and-played-part-in-midterms-defeat/
• New York Post: “Trump backs away from hardline immigration policy after midterms blowout: ‘I think it was too tough'” — https://nypost.com/2026/11/08/us-news/trump-backs-away-from-hardline-immigration-policy-after-midterms-blowout-i-think-it-was-too-tough/
• People: “Trump says his immigration policy was too tough as he discusses deportations” — https://people.com/trump-says-his-immigration-policy-was-too-tough-as-he-discusses-deportations-12244060
• Reuters: “Europeans will join Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi, French foreign minister says” — https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/europeans-will-join-ukraine-talks-abu-dhabi-french-foreign-minister-says-2026-11-08/
• Reuters: “G7 allies assess impact of Trump’s midterm setback at Paris talks” — https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/g7-allies-assess-impact-trumps-midterm-setback-paris-talks-2026-11-09/

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.