President Donald Trump said Sunday night that he might support an amnesty arrangement for many migrants currently working in jobs that could otherwise be filled by Americans.
The interview was recorded shortly before Trump dismissed establishment-oriented chief of staff Susie Wiles and replaced her with Stephen Miller, his pro-American populist adviser.
Speaking with CBS’s 60 Minutes, Trump said he wanted to explore an immigration agreement with pro-migration Democrats:
Get the killers out. Get all the rough ones out. Get the drug dealers out. But let the people that are here, and in some cases here for ten and 15 years, work a deal for them.
He suggested that undocumented migrants holding jobs might be permitted to remain in the country:
Now, there is a large part of the country that think that they should be put out. And 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 workin’ in a hotel, or doing something, right? And in some cases, paying taxes. And there’s a large group of people who think that they should be allowed to stay.
…
That’s something that’s actually doable … When you go into a hotel and you have a woman that’s worked there, you know, as a maid, as a cleaner, as a this, as a that, as a waitress, a lotta good things, great jobs, and all of a sudden, they’re being taken outta the country, it’s tough. It’s a tough thing.
Trump has repeatedly floated broad, loosely defined immigration agreements during negotiations with business groups and Democratic lawmakers, only to abandon them after resistance from his enforcement-minded base of ordinary Americans.
With Trump and his family facing multiple hostile investigations and threats from the Democrats’ House and Senate majorities, they have a political incentive to raise expectations for a sweeping amnesty agreement—one that could cement Democratic power for a generation.
Trump also acknowledged on 60 Minutes that many of his supporters oppose amnesty. “There’s a group of people that I would say on the sort of pretty far right that would like everybody taken out,” he said. That group likely includes his new chief of staff, Stephen Miller, as well as more than half of the electorate, according to polling.
For instance, a Harvard Harris poll conducted in February 2026 found that 57 percent of Americans overall—and 79 percent of Republicans—favored sending all undocumented migrants home. That broad support for enforcement helped Trump win in 2016 and 2024, and it remains central to his political influence even after he leaves office following the 2028 election.
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However, polls sponsored by pro-migration groups can push support for deportation below 50 percent by including conditions and concessions that may be difficult to enforce, such as requiring migrants to speak English or repay back taxes.
Trump’s willingness to discuss amnesty also highlights what critics describe as the Democrats’ concealed radical agenda, coming just days after their decisive election victory. Democrats prevailed in part by downplaying their support for a radical, unpopular, and wealth-shifting amnesty policy.
Many Americans believe migration allows investors and employers to reduce wages and facilitate workplace abuses. Wall Street investors, for example, can collect higher franchise fees and rents when hotel operators rely on inexpensive Indian migrants to clean rooms and work in kitchens.
Miller could shift Trump’s deportation strategy away from highly publicized arrests and toward behind-the-scenes pressure on employers, banks, and landlords. Trump immigration adviser Tom Homan has advocated that approach for years.
In addition, public discussion of amnesty can immediately encourage more migrants to travel north, creating the kind of influx that is likely to dominate news coverage.
Democrats have a long record of rejecting limited compromises while pursuing a so-called comprehensive amnesty that would, in their view, shut Republicans out of American politics. Those ambitious efforts have repeatedly failed, in part because of deep divisions within the Democratic coalition.
Trump explained how his immigration record affected the midterm elections:
I think it both helped and hurt. I think I got an A+ for closing up the border. I get very high marks for getting the bad ones out. But I get hurt because we also took [illegal migrant] people that had good jobs, … [had] one violation, or breaking of the law, and that was that they came into the country illegally.
“I think [the deportation policy] might be too tough, yeah,” he said.
Trump’s election loss was partly attributed to weak turnout among his base, amid anger over his decision to launch a war against Iran.
Latino voters moved sharply against Republican candidates, although substantial evidence also indicates that immigration helped motivate many Republican supporters to vote.
Renewed discussion of amnesty could also encourage employers to retain their large undocumented workforces, undermining the wage growth Trump needs to rebuild support among swing voters who stayed home in the 2026 election.