While President Trump seems to understand that his failed Iran War was a major factor in the Republican midterm wipeout, he also seems to have learned the wrong lesson about his immigration policy. During an interview with Ross Douthat of 60 Minutes over the weekend, Douthat asked the president whether he would be willing to work with Democrats on any issues after the midterm disaster, and Trump said immigration.
Immigration is the one issue in the midterms that worked in Republicans’ favor. According to exit polling from NBC News, every major issue except immigration favored Democrats. In an election marked by widespread voter dissatisfaction with Trump and his policies, on immigration voters actually preferred Republicans by 44 percent compared to 41 percent who preferred Democrats. If anything, immigration is the one issue from which the president should absolutely refuse to back away.
Yet somehow Trump’s takeaway is that his immigration policy was “too tough,” as he told Douthat, specifically citing the enforcement of federal immigration laws against people who had entered the country illegally but have since not committed any other serious crimes. He mentioned “good people” who are working “in landscaping or a hotel” and have been in the country “10 and 15 years,” who might be allowed to stay as part of a deal with Democrats, which he plans to pursue.
Setting aside the fact that illegal immigrants who work often commit other crimes like identity theft as a result of their illegal status, granting legal status to “law-abiding” illegal immigrants by cutting a deal with Democrats was never part of what Trump promised in 2024.
During the 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to carry out the largest deportation program in U.S. history as a way to rectify the massive surge of illegal immigration that occurred under the Biden administration. In May of 2024, he told Time Magazine he would deport 15 to 20 million people, and routinely promised to mobilize the National Guard to accomplish this. On more than one occasion, he cited the Eisenhower administration’s “Operation Wetback,” which reportedly removed more than a million illegal immigrants in 1954, as an example of what he had in mind.
But two years into his term, Trump has failed to carry out anything close to the largest deportation program in U.S. history. His second-term deportation numbers are certainly better than his first term but comparable to deportations and removals under Obama. One reason Trump has not come anywhere close to deporting 15 or 20 million illegals (and isn’t on track to do so by the end of this term) is that he has declined to pursue workplace enforcement and go after employers who knowingly hire and employ illegal aliens.
On the question of deporting illegals who are not otherwise violent criminals, Trump said during his 60 Minutes interview that there’s a “large part of the country who think they should be put out and a large part of the country that thinks they should be allowed to stay.” Yes, and the part of the country that thinks they should be “put out” is the part of the country that elected Trump to office in 2024 — partly on a promise of mass deportations. Those are literally the people who voted him back into office in 2024, yet during the interview he characterized them as “pretty far right.”
Cutting a deal with Democrats to give legal status or a pathway to citizenship to people who entered the country legally would be amnesty — the one thing Trump promised he would not do on immigration policy.
No wonder then that on Monday, Trump and the administration went into damage control. Trump insisted at a press conference that there will be “no amnesty,” even though what he described to Douthat is amnesty, by any definition. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Politico he’s open to “open to a bipartisan immigration deal that includes DACA permanent legal status. But draws red line on amnesty.”
They can say it’s not amnesty all they want, but everyone knows it is. As if on cue, out came pro-amnesty Republicans like Rep. Maria Salazar, who has been pushing an amnesty bill she calls the Dignity Act for some time now. “Well done, Mr. President!” she posted on X. “What you described on 60 Minutes is what the Dignity Act is all about. A Republican-led immigration bill with BIPARTISAN support.” The Dignity Act, however, is essentially the same “comprehensive immigration reform” the GOP establishment has been pushing for years: amnesty now in exchange for border enforcement and immigration reform that never seems to come.
What all this amounts to is yet another slap in the face to voters who took Trump at his word. When he was campaigning in 2024, he didn’t promise only to deport “the worst of the worst,” he promised mass deportations in the tens of millions. You don’t get 15 to 20 million deportations by only going after violent criminals, you get it by going after everyone who illegally entered the country. Everyone knows that. Trump knows that.
Even if they just went after all the people who came in illegally under the Biden administration, some 10 million or more, that would be a major accomplishment. But Trump isn’t on track to achieve even that.
Now, having broken trust with voters on the Iran War and the costs it imposed on American families, if Trump pursues an amnesty deal with Democrats, betraying his voters once again, the GOP can forget about 2028. Republicans will go into the wilderness for the next 50 years. And they will deserve it.
