United States President Donald Trump has acknowledged that his administration’s mass deportation campaign against undocumented immigrants may have been excessively harsh, raising questions about the future direction of his immigration policy.
Trump made the remarks during an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes, an excerpt of which was released on Sunday ahead of the programme’s television broadcast.
Asked whether his administration had been too tough in enforcing its deportation policy, the US president responded: “I think it was too tough…I think it might be too tough.”
CBS published the interview excerpt on its official X account. The interview was recorded following the Republican Party’s significant setback in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Trump’s comments come amid growing criticism of his administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement measures, particularly its campaign to deport millions of undocumented migrants.
Although his efforts to strengthen security along the US southern border have received support from some sections of the American population, the administration’s mass deportation programme has attracted widespread condemnation.
Despite the criticism and the Republican Party’s electoral losses, Trump appointed Stephen Miller on Friday as his chief of staff, signalling the administration’s continued commitment to its hardline immigration agenda.
Miller, a key architect of Trump’s immigration policies, has been closely associated with the administration’s controversial deportation crackdown, particularly the operations of masked federal immigration agents.
He has also faced criticism for defending federal agents involved in the fatal shootings of two American citizens earlier this year.
Trump’s latest remarks have therefore drawn attention to the apparent tension between his acknowledgement that immigration enforcement may have been too harsh and the appointment of a figure closely associated with the administration’s hardline approach.
The president’s comments could fuel further debate over the direction of US immigration policy and how his administration intends to balance border security with concerns about enforcement practices and the treatment of migrants.