WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump denied Monday that his administration is considering amnesty for illegal immigrants, clarifying remarks he made in an interview over the weekend suggesting he might be open to striking a deal with Democrats.
During an interview with 60 Minutes, the president told CBS News’ Ross Douthat that he would “love” to work with Democrats on immigration, said the issue had both “helped and hurt” him in the midterms, and suggested that he might allow certain illegal immigrants to remain in the United States.
The interview was taped shortly before he announced that Stephen Miller would be his new chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles. Miller is one of the chief architects of Trump’s current deportation policy and a staunch immigration hardliner.
The president’s remarks sparked strong backlash from supporters of his deportation agenda. On Monday, Trump appeared to walk the suggestion back — while still leaving the door open for some kind of bargain for illegals who are working and paying taxes.
“We have a very strong deportation policy,” the president said during an impromptu briefing at the White House on Monday. “There’s no amnesty, no, no anything. We keep that, but we focus on the worst of the worst. We want to get the murderers out. We’ve got most of them out. We’ve got most of the really bad.”
Trump reflected on the border crisis during President Joe Biden’s administration, saying, “You know, Joe Biden allowed 100, well 25 million people to come in. Of that, 11,888 murderers, most of whom committed more than one murder. We’ve gotten most of them.”
Photographer: Tierney L. Cross/The Washington Post/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The president emphasized that his administration wants to get “the worst of the worst” and then “we’ll see what happens.” And he noted that while the illegal aliens in the country entered in violation of the law, many of them have “good jobs now.”
“Some of them are even paying taxes,” he added. “And we’re seeing what’s going to happen. There won’t be amnesty. Somebody suggested won’t be amnesty, no. They came in. They knew the law.”
The president then again suggested he is working with different groups discussing the question of these productive illegal immigrants, and what to do about their situation.
“We’re working with a lot of different groups to see whether or not — but my policy hasn’t changed,” he said.
He again emphasized deporting murderers and criticized countries that “emptied their prisons” into the United States, allowing drug dealers and criminals to cross the U.S. border.
“What Biden did to this country should never, ever be forgotten, and I hope the Democrats will not try and allow that to happen again,” he added.
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