Trump says tough deportation policy likely hurt Republicans in US midterms

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump said it’s possible his administration has been “too tough” with its deportation policies, conceding that it may have hurt the Republican Party in the midterm elections.“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 in an interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes that aired on Nov 8.“Now, there is a large part of the country that think that they should be put out,” Trump said.“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.”It’s not clear whether Trump was signalling a broader rethinking of his policies.Hours after the interview was taped on Nov 6, Trump announced that he was naming Stephen Miller, the chief architect of his hardline immigration policies, as his chief of staff.Elevating Miller was seen as a signal the president is unlikely to moderate his policies or seek compromises with Democrats.Even so, in the 60 Minutes interview, he said he was open to discussing a deal on immigration with Democrats and that some people have already called him.“There’s also people that are more modified on that,” he said in the interview.“In other words, get the killers out. Get all the rough ones out. Get the drug dealers out. But let the people that are here, and in some cases here for 10 and 15 years, work a deal for them.”He added that there’s also a “group of people that I would say on the sort of pretty far-right that would like everybody taken out.”Trump noted that some of those voices advocating the strictest stances serve in his administration. BLOOMBERG