Washington: US President Donald Trump has acknowledged that his immigration policy may have been "too tough" following a major Republican setback in the midterm elections, while expressing readiness to work with the Democratic Party in the years ahead.
Democrats won control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in the November 3 midterm elections, flipping several Republican-held seats in a sweeping setback for Trump.
The results reflected voter dissatisfaction with his handling of immigration, the economy, the Iran war and rising living costs.
“I think it was too tough. I think it might be too tough,” Trump told CBS's 60 Minutes in response to a question about his administration's deportation policy.
The interview was recorded on Friday and broadcast on Sunday evening.
Soon after the interview was recorded, Trump appointed Stephen Miller, known for his hard-line views on immigration, as his chief of staff. The move raised questions about whether the president would significantly soften his approach.
Indian tech workers were among those worst affected by the hard-line immigration policies pursued by the Trump administration.
Asked why Republicans suffered a resounding defeat, Trump echoed the view that the outcome was linked to the Iran war and rising petrol prices. He also pointed to hostility towards Israel as a factor.
“They didn’t like the war,” Trump said. “They didn’t like the fact that gasoline went up because I had it down at a low. And there’s a great dislike, incredibly, for Israel.”
The president said his immigration crackdown had “both helped and hurt” him at the polls.
Trump said he believed he had received an “A+ for closing up the border” and “very high marks for getting the bad ones out”.
“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 said.
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“Now, there is a large part of the country that thinks that they should be put out. And there's a large part of the country that thinks 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.
“I think it was too tough,” the Republican leader reiterated.
Trump also repeated his claim that he had prevented a nuclear war between India and Pakistan.
“I've settled eight wars. I settled eight wars. I mean, India-Pakistan would've been a nuclear war. I got it settled before it got going.
“They had 11 planes shot down. They were ready to go. The prime minister of Pakistan said, 'Trump saved 30-50 million lives.' I settled a lot of wars,” he said.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, 2025, targeting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that claimed 26 lives.
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New Delhi has consistently rejected Trump's claims of US mediation, maintaining that the understanding to cease military action was reached directly between the two countries' Directors General of Military Operations on May 10, 2025.
India has also said that no trade-related discussions took place with the US during the conflict.
Asked what he thought would happen after his death, Trump said, “I hope I'm missed.”
He also described himself as a “religious person” and said he hoped to go to heaven.
