President Donald Trump opened the door to negotiating an immigration deal with the Democrats that could allow undocumented immigrants with stable jobs to remain in the United States, during an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes aired on Sunday, just days after the Republican defeat in the midterm elections.
The leader described the situation of workers in gardening companies, hotels, and other service jobs who have been in the country for a decade or more, and acknowledged that there is a deep division in the country regarding what to do with them. "There is a large part of the country that believes they should be expelled, and there is a large part that believes they should be allowed to stay if they are good people working in a gardening company or a hotel, and in some cases, paying taxes," Trump told correspondent Ross Douthat.
When Douthat directly asked him if an agreement with the Democrats could create some kind of legal status for those workers, Trump responded affirmatively and described the possibility as "achievable." He cited the example of a hotel worker who has been working as a waitress or cleaner for years: "Suddenly, she is being taken out of the country. It's harsh. It's something harsh."
El futuro migratorio de miles de indocumentados en EE.UU. sigue siendo incierto. Mantente informado sobre todos los cambios en
The president also admitted that his deportation policy was excessive in some cases. “I believe it may have been too harsh,” he said, noting that it affected people whose only immigration offense was having entered the country illegally. He drew a distinction between three positions: those who want to deport everyone without exception, those who defend sanctuary cities, and a middle group where he placed himself: “Remove the murderers. Remove the rapists. Remove the drug traffickers, but let the people who have been here for 10 or 15 years reach an agreement.”
Trump acknowledged that immigration policy "helped and hurt" Republicans in the elections on Tuesday, although he gave himself an "A+" for having secured the southern border. He mentioned that several Democratic legislators had already contacted him to explore a negotiation, and he cited the new senator from Texas James Talarico as an example of someone willing to work on the issue.
However, the president's words contrast with the concrete actions of his administration. On the same Monday that the interview was released, Stephen Miller —considered the main architect of mass deportations— took over as the new White House Chief of Staff, replacing Susie Wiles. Four days earlier, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, had published an unambiguous message: "Deportations will continue."
The numbers support this hardline stance. The Department of Homeland Security reported nearly 1.2 million deportations since January 2025, and an analysis by the Migration Policy Institute revealed that eight out of ten deportees had no criminal background. For the Cuban community, the impact has been especially severe: arrests of Cubans by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement increased by 463% between late 2024 and early 2026, and over 42,000 Cubans had pending deportation orders.
Trump did not present any specific bill, timeline, or eligibility criteria for workers who could benefit from a potential agreement during the interview. The Democratic leader of the Senate, Chuck Schumer, responded by pointing out that Trump had appointed the person responsible for the strictest immigration policy to lead the White House, describing it as "promotion," not correction.
Trump's statements on 60 Minutes recall a debate that his own administration had already explored in June 2025, when it considered creating a temporary pass for undocumented farmworkers that was never formalized into law or an operational program.
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