U.S. President Donald Trump defended his deportation policy Monday and ruled out an immigration agreement involving “amnesty,” a day after suggesting he could support allowing some people living in the country illegally to stay.

“There won’t be amnesty,” Trump told reporters at the White House, according to reporting by Rebecca Santana of The Associated Press, published by CityNews. He described his deportation policy as “very strong” and said it had not changed, with enforcement focused on removing “the worst of the worst.”

The remarks contrasted with an interview aired Sunday on CBS’s “60 Minutes.” Trump said people he described as killers and drug dealers should be deported, but expressed openness to a deal for others working in businesses such as hotels and landscaping companies, including some who pay taxes.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Monday that Democrats had contacted him about working together on immigration following the midterm elections. He said Trump had encouraged those contacts, but that he and the president had not discussed concrete policy changes.

Speaking at a conference near Washington, Mullin said a bipartisan approach was necessary to advance immigration legislation. But he also rejected any agreement involving amnesty.

The statements leave uncertain what common ground the administration could find with the incoming Democratic-controlled Congress. AP reported that about six in 10 midterm voters said the administration’s immigration enforcement actions had gone too far, according to its survey of more than 100,000 voters. A similar share disapproved of how Immigration and Customs Enforcement was doing its job.

Mullin separately raised the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which provides protection from deportation for people brought to the United States illegally as children. He said any measure to legalize their status would be a matter for Congress.

Associated Press writer Collin Binkley contributed to the source report.

Sources