Trump Admits Deportation Crackdown Was 'Too Tough' After Midterm Losses
President Donald Trump has admitted that his administration’s deportation crackdown went too far, telling CBS’s 60 Minutes that the policy was “too tough” and that it hurt Republicans in last week’s midterm elections. The unusually frank concession came in his first major sit-down interview since voters handed control of both the House and Senate to Democrats on Tuesday, November 3, 2026.
In short: In a 60 Minutes interview taped on Friday, November 6, and aired on Sunday, November 8, 2026, President Trump told correspondent Ross Douthat his deportation policy “might be too tough” and “ultimately… hurt me” in the midterms. He defended his border record, gave himself an “A+” for closing the southern border, and opened the door to an immigration deal with the incoming Democratic Congress.
“I Think It Was Too Tough”
Asked by Douthat whether the deportation policy had gone too far, the president answered directly. “I think it was too tough,” he said. “I think it might be too tough. Yeah.” Pressed on whether immigration had hurt him in the midterms, he said: “I think it both helped and hurt.”
Trump drew a sharp line between two kinds of enforcement. “I got an A+ for closing up the border,” he said. “I get very high marks for getting the bad ones out.” But he acknowledged the political damage done by the removals themselves: “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 specifically referenced people employed in hotels, landscaping and other industries, including workers who pay taxes, and said a large portion of the public believes such people should be allowed to remain.
Trump also blamed the way the policy had been explained to voters. Pressed on what the “bad message” had been, he said: “We couldn’t get the word across.” At the same time, he defended the overall economy as “phenomenal,” citing strong jobs numbers, high 401(k) values and manufacturing gains, while attributing voter dissatisfaction to “bad messaging” on prices for gasoline, food, utilities and healthcare.
The Numbers Behind the Admission
The exit polling backs up Trump’s assessment. According to CBS News, 58 percent of voters in the November 3 midterm elections said the Trump administration’s immigration actions had gone too far. The shift was sharpest among Latino voters, who swung to the right in 2024 and reversed course on Tuesday. Just one in three Hispanic voters said they cast their ballot for a Republican in their respective U.S. House race, while roughly four in ten voted for Trump two years ago, according to the AP Voter Poll of more than 100,000 midterm voters.
The interview was taped at the White House on Friday, November 6 — and about an hour after the conversation was recorded, Trump named Stephen Miller, the architect of the mass deportation policy, as his new White House chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles. The timing underlined the tension at the heart of the interview: the president had just described the policy Miller built as too tough, then promoted its author to the most powerful staff job in the West Wing.
Trump Opens the Door to an Immigration Deal
The interview also opened a door Trump has kept firmly shut for much of his presidency: a negotiated immigration deal with the incoming Democratic Congress. He said he would “love to do something on immigration” and, when asked whether a deal could include creating legal status for some undocumented workers, indicated that it could — saying such a deal “might be doable.” Asked whether he could strike a deal if it took six months of not insulting Democrats, Trump answered: “Very easily.”
The offer lands as Democrats prepare to take both chambers in January, after winning control of both houses of Congress in the midterms. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has named reversing Medicaid cuts, ending the war in Iran and stopping Trump’s tariffs as top priorities — and an immigration negotiation would give both sides something to trade. Whether the opening is real or rhetorical will be tested in the coming weeks, as the new Congress takes shape and the White House adjusts to divided government.
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Beyond Immigration: Iran, AI and What Comes Next
The wide-ranging conversation covered more than immigration. Trump said voters “didn’t like the war” in Iran and the gas prices it drove, agreeing in large part with Vice President JD Vance’s assessment that the conflict was a primary reason for the midterm losses. He also said renewed U.S. strikes on Iran are unlikely if talks progress. The interview touched on artificial intelligence, Trump’s potential successors and his own mortality — the full sweep of a presidency entering its final two years under a Democratic Congress.
For Trump, the 60 Minutes appearance was a rare moment of public self-correction. He has built his political identity on never backing down, and the deportation crackdown is the defining policy of his second term. Admitting it was “too tough” — and that it cost his party an election — is a striking departure. What matters now is whether the admission leads to a change in policy, a deal with Democrats, or simply a change in tone while the enforcement machine, now run from the chief of staff’s office by Stephen Miller, carries on as before. The full interview is the clearest window yet into how Trump himself reads the midterm verdict.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Trump say about deportations on 60 Minutes?
President Trump told CBS’s 60 Minutes that his deportation policy was “too tough” and that it “ultimately… hurt me” in the midterm elections. He said the policy “both helped and hurt” Republicans, and acknowledged he was hurt politically by deporting people who had good jobs and whose only violation was entering the country illegally.
When was the Trump 60 Minutes interview recorded and aired?
The interview with correspondent Ross Douthat was taped at the White House on Friday, November 6, 2026, and aired on Sunday, November 8, 2026. It was Trump’s first major sit-down interview since Democrats won control of Congress in the November 3 midterms.
Did Trump defend his border policy in the interview?
Yes. Trump gave himself an “A+” for closing the southern border and said he gets “very high marks for getting the bad ones out.” His criticism was aimed at the broader deportation crackdown, not at border security itself.
What did exit polls say about immigration enforcement?
According to CBS News exit polling, 58 percent of voters said the Trump administration’s immigration actions had gone too far. The AP Voter Poll found just one in three Hispanic voters backed a Republican in their House race, down from roughly four in ten who voted for Trump in 2024.
Is Trump open to an immigration deal with Democrats?
Yes. Trump said he would “love to do something on immigration” and indicated a deal creating legal status for some undocumented workers “might be doable.” Asked if he could strike a deal if it took six months of not insulting Democrats, he answered: “Very easily.”
What else did Trump discuss in the 60 Minutes interview?
The interview also covered the Iran war — Trump said voters “didn’t like the war” and the gas prices it drove — along with artificial intelligence, his potential successors and his own mortality. He also said renewed U.S. strikes on Iran are unlikely if talks progress.
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