FOREST HEIGHTS, Md. (AP) — After suggesting he was open to negotiating a deal with Democrats on an immigration policy that he described as too tough, President Donald Trump on Monday defended his administration’s deportation policy and said he was opposed to any immigration deal that would include “amnesty” for immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.
The comments from Trump came after Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin earlier Monday also
said that while he has been fielding calls from Democrats interested in working on immigration policy, he was adamantly opposed to any deal that would include amnesty.
The midterm elections highlighted voters’ disaffection toward the administration’s hard-line immigration enforcement activities. But the comments from both Trump and Mullin reflected the mixed messaging from the administration in the aftermath of the election and emphasized how complicated it will be for a new Congress controlled by Democrats to find any common ground when it comes to the issue of immigration.
Immigration has long been one of the most intractable issues facing Congress, with any deal that gives people in the country illegally a pathway to resolve their status often characterized by anti-immigration critics as amnesty. But advocates have said that longtime immigrants who've lived in the U.S. for years and worked and raised families here deserve a way to come out of the shadows and legalize their status.
“There won’t be amnesty,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “Somebody suggested, will there be amnesty? No, but — they came in. They knew the law.”
Trump defended his administration’s deportation policy as “very strong.” Asked if he had spoken with Stephen Miller, his newly promoted chief of staff who was the architect of his immigration crackdown, about immigration changes, Trump said no.
“My policy hasn’t changed,” he said, adding that the focus will be on removing “the worst of the worst.”
In comparison, during an interview that aired Sunday with “60 Minutes,” Trump said “killers” and “drug dealers” in the country illegally should be deported, but suggested he was open to the idea of a deal that would let others 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.”
Trump rode back into power with a promise to crack down on immigration. During the first two years of his second term, arrests of immigrants surged, including through high-profile operations in large U.S. cities that sometimes turned violent.
And voters appeared to disapprove of the tactics. Nationally, about 6 in 10 voters said the Trump administration’s actions on immigration enforcement had “gone too far,” according to The AP Voter Poll, a survey of more than 100,000 midterm voters. A similar share disapproved of how Immigration and Customs Enforcement was doing its job.
Mullin earlier Monday reiterated Trump’s willingness to work with Democrats on the issue, although he said that he and the president haven’t yet discussed any concrete immigration policy changes in the aftermath of the midterm elections.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference near Washington, D.C., Mullin also said he is strongly opposed to any amnesty for people living in the U.S. illegally.
Mullin, who was a senator and House representative before becoming Trump’s Homeland Security secretary earlier this year, said after the election he’s been fielding calls from Democrats that he worked with in Congress on bipartisan issues.
“I’ve let the president know that those calls are coming in. And the president has said, you know, let’s start working with them and then let’s meet at some point. So that’s the extent of the conversation,” Mullin said. “We haven’t had any conversation just on policy.”
Trump since the election has elevated Miller, raising questions about how cooperation with Democrats might look so long as enforcement remains strict. Mullin called Miller in a post on social media last week an “excellent choice.”
Mullin, who said he worked with Democrats while he was in Congress including on immigration reform, said he thought a bipartisan approach was the only way to get anything done. But the secretary also pushed back decisively against any type of agreement that would include amnesty for people living illegally in the U.S.
“I was working on immigration reform when I was in the House and when I was in the Senate. I think the only way you can actually get it is by a bipartisan approach. But amnesty's never going to be a solution. We’re never gonna allow amnesty to happen. So that’s a full stop,” said Mullin.
The Homeland Security secretary raised the issue of DACA — a form of protection from deportation for children brought to the country illegally by their parents. He said figuring out a way to legalize their status would be up to Congress.
“Now, if we wanna have an immigration reform to where we can look at DACA and figure out a way that these individuals can become maybe legal permanent citizens or something like this, that’ll be up to Congress to do that,” Mullin said.
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Associated Press writer Collin Binkley in Washington contributed to this report.
