President Donald Trump said Monday night that his administration has pursued migrant workers less aggressively than people he described as murderers and drug dealers. Speaking by telephone with C-SPAN, he said farm workers, waitresses and others had not faced comparable pressure under his mass deportation campaign.
Trump was responding to a question about whether immigrants who obey the law, pay taxes and have lived in the United States for years should face deportation alongside those responsible for serious offenses. He said enforcement had focused more heavily on people his administration considers particularly dangerous. He also claimed that dangerous people from mental institutions had been released into the country.
The comments followed an interview broadcast Sunday on "60 Minutes," in which Trump expressed interest in negotiating with Democrats over immigration. That discussion came after Republicans lost their majorities in both chambers of Congress in last week's midterm elections. Host Ross Douthat asked whether Trump would cooperate with Democrats as he approaches the final, lame-duck phase of his presidency.
Trump said immigration enforcement had both helped and hurt Republicans politically. He praised his administration's handling of the border but acknowledged criticism of deportations involving employed immigrants. He described conflicting views among Americans, with some favoring removal for anyone who entered illegally and others supporting allowing longtime residents who work and pay taxes to stay.
Hotel employees and landscaping workers were among the examples Trump cited while explaining the difficulty of removing people with established jobs. He said people on the far right supported deporting immigrants living in the country illegally regardless of their employment. Although he indicated a willingness to negotiate an arrangement for people who had been in the country illegally for 10 or 15 years, he told a White House briefing earlier Monday that "there won’t be amnesty" and said his policy had not changed.
The C-SPAN conversation also covered a possible House vote on impeaching Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth. The chamber could consider a resolution introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., as early as Tuesday. Trump said he would be disappointed if some Republicans supported impeachment.
Asked when the war on Iran might end, Trump offered no firm timetable. He said his approach reflected conversations with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait, describing those countries as neighbors that had suffered violent attacks. Qatar's prime minister had visited the Oval Office earlier Monday, he said.
Trump said those countries preferred his current approach to another strike, which he described as potentially about five times larger than the initial attack. He also said he believed Iran wanted an agreement, while leaving open whether a deal would be reached.
