US President Donald Trump says his administration’s immigration crackdown played a role in the loss suffered by Republicans in the mid-term vote.
In an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes programme on Sunday, Trump said the crackdown helped and hurt his party.
Trump said he believed he deserved an A+ for closing up the borders but noted that he also got hurt “because we also took people that had good jobs”.
“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 working in a hotel, or doing something,” he said.
“I think it might be too tough, yeah. And a lotta people would say that it’s great. But a lotta people think it’s too tough.”
Trump said he would work “something out” with the Democrats on immigration but did not offer details.
Election day polling indicated immigration was the third most important issue for mid-term voters, after the economy and the state of democracy.
Following Tuesday’s losses, Vice-President JD Vance said he was open to the idea that the Trump administration “should change enforcement — by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labour”.
Vance, however, blamed the Iran war as the main cause of the rout.
Trump said he did not disagree with Vance’s position but noted that his response would be an “emphatic yes” if he had to do it again.