Washington: US President Donald Trump has acknowledged that his administration’s hardline immigration policies may have contributed to the Republican Party’s setbacks in the November 3 midterm elections, admitting that the deportation drive targeting undocumented immigrants, including those with long-established jobs and lives in the country, may have been “too tough”.
In an interview with CBS News’ ’60 Minutes’, Trump said his immigration crackdown had both helped and hurt the Republican Party electorally, claiming that while his administration received strong support for securing the US-Mexico border and removing individuals with criminal records, its broader enforcement approach had alienated some voters.
“I think it was too tough. A lot of people would say that it’s great, but a lot of people think it’s too tough,” Trump said, reflecting on the impact of his administration’s immigration policies following the Republican electoral setbacks.
The President maintained that he had received an “A+” for closing the border and “very high marks for getting the bad ones out”. However, he acknowledged that the administration’s deportation measures had also affected undocumented immigrants who had been living and working in the US for several years.
“But 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.
