In a recent “60 Minutes” interview, President Trump made a striking admission: his immigration crackdown may have been “too tough” and he may be open to a compromise with Democrats on some form of amnesty for the many hard-working aliens whose only violation is being out of status.
This would be welcome news for the many people who are traumatized and even afraid to leave their homes, feeling hunted like animals under harsh ICE crackdowns.
Trump said the crackdown “both helped and hurt” him at the polls. Most voters strongly backed closing the border and “getting the bad ones out,” but he acknowledged that his policies may have gone too far, costing Republicans support by targeting hard-working people whose only offense was entering the US illegally. In his words: “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 added that he knows “there’s a large part of the country that think that they should be allowed to stay if they’re good people working in a landscaping company, or working in a hotel, or doing something, right? And in some cases, paying taxes.”
The president said he’d “love to do something on immigration” with Democrats, who will control the House and Senate starting next year. I hope that means a pathway to legalization for the many of you living in the shadows and in fear, who want to work hard, pay taxes, contribute and pursue the American dream. I am also hopeful that Trump is finally distinguishing between hard-core criminals, terrorists and public safety threats on one hand, and those who have simply overstayed on the other.
Still, his admission that he was “too tough on immigration” sits uneasily with his appointment of Stephen Miller, the architect of this harsh enforcement, as chief of staff.
I will keep following these developments. It is encouraging that Trump recognizes that being “too tough on immigration” partly contributed to Grand Old Party (GOP) losses in the last election, and he may become more lenient, even to the point of amnesty.
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