Trump Says ‘There Won’t Be Amnesty’ for Illegal Aliens. The Worst Criminals Still Go First.

For about 24 hours, Washington was buzzing that President Trump might be going soft on illegal immigration. On Monday, he answered the question himself.

“There won’t be amnesty,” Trump told reporters in a surprise visit to the White House briefing room. “Somebody suggested, will there be amnesty? No.”

The question

A reporter pointed to Trump’s 60 Minutes interview, which aired Sunday, where he said his deportation push “might be too tough.” Then the reporter noted that Trump had just named Stephen Miller, the man behind that policy, as his new chief of staff, and asked whether Trump had told Miller he wants changes.

“No, no. We have a very strong deportation policy,” Trump said. “There’s no amnesty.”

Who goes first

Trump said the focus is where it’s always been. “We focus on the worst of the worst,” he said. “We want to get the murderers out. We’ve gotten most of them out.” He said the Biden administration let in 25 million people and that 11,888 of them were murderers, and that other countries “emptied their prisons into our country.”

He also talked about the people who aren’t in that group. “They came in illegally. Many of them have good jobs now. They’re productive. Some of them are even paying taxes,” he said. “But they came in, they knew the law, and we’re working with a lot of different groups to see whether or not.” He didn’t finish that thought. His next words were: “But my policy hasn’t changed.”

Why it matters

On 60 Minutes, Trump had said a deal with Democrats was “actually doable,” according to the CBS transcript, and that set off a fight on the right over whether amnesty was coming. Monday’s answer puts a floor under any talks: no amnesty, and the people the president calls the worst of the worst still go first.

The Guardian also reported that Trump said he hadn’t spoken with Miller about any changes.