Trump says he wants to work with Democrats on immigration; Rep. Troy Carter responds

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - President Donald Trump appears to be ready to scale back his aggressive deportation policy.

“My policy hasn’t changed. What we are doing is absolutely the worst of the worst. We’re getting the murderers. They allowed people to come in from prisons, they emptied their prisons into our country,” Trump said on Monday at the White House.

A day earlier on CBS’ 60 Minutes show, Trump said he would love to work with Congress’ incoming Democratic majority on immigration. He conceded during that interview that his deportation may have gone too far.

“I think it was too tough. I think it might be too tough, yeah,” Trump said.

Louisiana Democratic congressman Troy Carter reacted to Trump’s comments on 60 Minutes during an interview with FOX 8.

“Anytime the President rethinks himself, that’s a good thing. But clearly, he can’t mean it enough, because he doubled down by the architect of his failed immigration policy has now just been promoted to his chief of staff. So one has to wonder how sincere he is and how much he actually learned from the blue wave,” said Carter.

On Friday, Trump named Stephen Miller as his new chief of staff after he ousted Susie Wiles from that position.

Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration across the country brought an outcry from many Americans, including in Louisiana.

“We all made it very clear: if the President’s mission was to get rapists and murderers and the bad guys off the street, we supported that,” Carter said. “But heretofore, his ICE operations have been grossly disruptive, illegal, murderous and has gone after working people, has gone after children and housewives and people that have been in our community as lawful individuals for many, many years.”

Dan Mills, CEO of the Homebuilders Association of Greater New Orleans, was asked about Trump’s comments.

“I think that the president made an acknowledgment in the 60 Minutes, in his interview, that the immigration application he put in place was successful at the border, but maybe was a little more than most people were ready for as he went through,” Mills said.

“And I think there’s acknowledgment of what we’ve been saying as an organization for a long time that there are plenty of folks that are here that are productive, even paying taxes that need a way in order to overcome that one thing, they got here, we need to have a path for them, maybe they need to pay a fine, maybe they need to do something to get in compliance, so that we can get them documented,” Mills said.

He said workforce shortages extend beyond the construction industry.

“Having a secure border is critical, and we want legal workforce within our community,” Mills said. “What we have seen through the immigration crackdown is a reduction in labor across the board, so it’s not just construction but hospitality and agriculture.”

Carter was asked if Democrats will work with Trump on immigration.

“We will work with the President and anybody else on anything if they’re willing to do the right thing,” he said.

And Carter commented on what an ideal “deal” with Trump on immigration would look like in his opinion.

“A complete revamp, an eradication of ICE as we know it, a complete rebuilding of the immigration system that creates a true path to citizenship, one that does not profile and summarily go through towns picking up people who sound a certain way or look a certain way,” he said.

Mills said their national association went to Capitol Hill in the spring to lobby for legislation related to worker shortages and immigration.

“One is the Constructs Act, which supports workforce development, including programs like Job Corps and getting that into universities, where we can support the growth of folks that are going to work in residential housing,” Mills said.

And the other deals with immigration.

“The other area, of course, is the Dignity Act, designed to help us embrace and find ways to have a secure border while also supporting legal immigration supply for our labor workforce,” Mills said.

Republican House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Rep. U.S. Sen. John Kennedy did not respond to FOX 8’s request for comment for this story.

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