Trump says his deportation drive was ‘too tough’ and floats a deal with Democrats, but ICE is unlikely to ease up

President Donald Trump said his deportation agenda was “too tough,” repeating his interest in a deal with Democrats¹. He offered little detail about what a deal might look like but suggested a legal pathway for some immigrants as one point of discussion¹. Trump floated the idea of an amnesty deal while saying he had been too tough on immigrants².

Trump made the remarks in a 60 Minutes interview, saying the deportation policy was “too tough”³. “I think it might be too tough,” he said of the mass deportation tactics⁴. He also said the policy “might have been too tough” for voters⁶.

The comments seemed at odds with his decision on Friday to elevate Stephen Miller, who orchestrated the immigration crackdown, to White House chief of staff³.

Why it matters to investors

Despite the change in tone, ICE is unlikely to scale back its crackdown, sources said, citing Miller’s promotion¹⁰. Miller is an immigration hawk, and his appointment came after Republicans suffered huge losses across the country on Election Day¹⁰.

Democrats won big on issues like immigration, but ICE still has the money⁹. The two major private detention center companies that contract for ICE are CoreCivic and the GEO Group, and both were in focus the day after the midterm results⁹. For now, the agency’s funding remains in place even as political control of Congress changes^6,9.

The scale of enforcement has been large. Arrests of Cubans by ICE rose by 463% over a period starting at the end of 2024, according to one account of the policy’s impact on the Cuban community⁷. Trump’s comments came as he discussed the election, in which the economy helped Democrats seize control of Congress⁶.

What to watch

The first marker is whether Trump’s openness to a deal produces a concrete offer to Democrats, including the legal pathway he mentioned^1,2. So far he has given little detail¹.

The second is whether ICE practice changes. Sources say the agency is unlikely to scale back while Miller runs the White House staff¹⁰. A gap between Trump’s words and enforcement on the ground would leave the crackdown in place^3,10.

For CoreCivic and the GEO Group, the central question is funding, and on that point ICE still has the money⁹. Trump’s talk of a deal has so far come with little detail on enforcement¹.