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Donald Trump has publicly questioned the breadth of his own mass deportation campaign, telling CBS’s 60 Minutes in an interview aired on 8 November that the policy had been “too tough” and that undocumented immigrants who hold jobs and pay taxes should perhaps be allowed to remain in the United States. The admission came days after significant Republican losses in the 3 November midterm elections — and two days after Trump elevated Stephen Miller, the man most responsible for designing that policy, to White House chief of staff.
“I think it might be too tough, yeah,” Trump said when asked whether enforcement had gone too far. He defended the removal of people convicted of serious crimes but drew a distinction between those cases and immigrants who had lived in the country for years without further offences, pointing specifically to workers in hotels, landscaping and similar industries. He said many Americans believed such people should be allowed to stay, and he expressed willingness to negotiate an immigration deal with Democrats, who are set to control both chambers of Congress from January 2027. He did not put forward specific legislative proposals.
Exit polling cited by CBS News found that 58 percent of voters surveyed believed the administration’s immigration enforcement had been excessive. Republican losses were particularly sharp in areas with large Latino populations that had previously backed Trump.
A policy under strain
Since January 2025, federal authorities have conducted expanded workplace raids and arrests. Many of those detained have no criminal record beyond immigration violations. The scale of the operation reflects targets pushed by Miller in his previous role as deputy chief of staff for policy, where he pressed Immigration and Customs Enforcement to reach 3,000 arrests per day, including people without criminal convictions.
Despite Trump’s softer public tone, several administration officials told CBS that enforcement operations were unlikely to slow. That assessment was delivered in the same news cycle as Trump’s 6 November decision to appoint Miller, 41, as chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles. The promotion gives Miller direct authority over White House operations at a moment when Democrats are preparing congressional investigations into ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer criticised the appointment, arguing that placing Miller in charge of the White House directly contradicted Trump’s suggestion of a more moderate course on immigration.
The tension between Trump’s stated openness to compromise and his choice of enforcer leaves the administration’s actual direction unclear. Miller’s elevation hands the architect of the most aggressive phase of immigration enforcement greater institutional power than he has previously held, even as the president publicly distances himself from the consequences of that enforcement at the ballot box.