President Trump acknowledged in an interview on Wednesday that his administration could use a “softer touch” on immigration when asked what he learned from the fallout over the handling of the federal immigration operation in Minneapolis.
“I learned that maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch, but you still have to be tough,” Trump said in an excerpt from a sit-down interview with anchor Tom Llamas on NBC Nightly News.
“These are really hard criminals,” he continued. “But look, I’ve called the people. I’ve called the people. I’ve called the mayor. Spoke to them. Had great conversations with them, and then I see them ranting and raving out there literally as if a call wasn’t made.”
Trump’s comments mark a departure from his consistent hardline stance on immigration that he’s boasted over the course of three presidential campaigns and two terms as president. His second term saw the deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents in cities across the U.S. to enforce mass deportation efforts and a massive draw down of migrants coming across the southern border.
Trump spoke to NBC hours after White House border czar Tom Homan announced that 700 immigration enforcement officials will be withdrawing from Minnesota on Wednesday after federal, state and local officials agreed to cooperate on mass deportation efforts there.
The president confirmed in the interview that the decision to withdraw 700 troops from the state came directly from him.
“But it didn’t come from me because I just wanted to do it,” he said. “We are waiting for them to release prisoners, give us the murderers that they’re holding, and all of the bad people, drug dealers, all of the bad people.”
The president went on to once again take a swipe at the Biden administration over their handling of the border, calling it “the autopen group.”
“We allowed people to come into our country, people, the likes of which no country would accept, and we’re getting them out,” Trump said. “But we’ve gotten a lot of them out.”
“Crime in all cities is down, and you know why it’s down? It’s down because of us,” he said.
