Trump admits immigration crackdown was 'too tough' after midterm defeat

US President Donald Trump has acknowledged that his administration's immigration crackdown was "too tough" and contributed to his party's poor performance in Tuesday's midterm elections, signalling a possible shift in tone on one of his signature political policies.

In an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes, broadcast on Sunday evening, Trump said he deserved an "A plus" for sharply reducing illegal border crossings but admitted that sweeping deportations had also hurt Republicans politically.

His comments came despite the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) insisting that the administration had no intention of easing its immigration enforcement campaign.

Exit polling showed immigration was the third most important issue for voters in the midterms, behind the economy and the state of democracy. A shift among Latino voters towards Democrats in traditionally conservative states such as Texas also helped the party secure landslide majorities in Congress.

Trump said immigration had both helped and hurt Republicans in Tuesday's elections.

"I think I got an A plus for closing up the border," he told 60 Minutes.

He added that he deserved high marks for removing people who had committed serious crimes but acknowledged that the crackdown had also affected people who had established jobs and committed only the offence of entering the country illegally.

"I think it was too tough," he said.

Trump also expressed interest in reaching an agreement with congressional Democrats on immigration, although he offered no details.

His remarks marked a sharp change from an interview with the same programme a year earlier, when he had insisted that his administration's immigration raids had "not gone far enough".

The White House, however, gave no indication of a change in policy. A spokeswoman told the BBC that the administration would not slow its efforts to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants accused of criminal activity.

"ICE is NOT backing away or slowing down," a DHS spokesperson told the BBC.

Vice-President JD Vance had appeared more open to reviewing the administration's approach following the election losses. In a lengthy social media post, he said he was willing to consider changing enforcement priorities, including focusing more on businesses that employ undocumented workers.

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However, Trump's decision on Friday to promote immigration hardliner Stephen Miller to White House chief of staff suggested that the administration was not preparing to abandon its tough approach.

Miller, a longtime Trump adviser, is widely regarded as the architect of the administration's hardline immigration policies during both of Trump's presidencies.

Meanwhile, sources at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told CBS that officials had recently been instructed to target around 2,700 arrests of undocumented immigrants a day, up from an earlier daily target of 2,000.

Immigration enforcement operations this year have sparked protests against ICE in several US cities, including Chicago, Minneapolis and Los Angeles.

In Minneapolis, two protesters, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were fatally shot by immigration agents.

Source: BBC