President Trump threatened in an interview this week to strip some naturalized immigrants of their citizenship, defended an ICE agent who killed a woman in Minneapolis and offered no regrets over officers’ aggressive tactics against immigrants, protesters and American citizens.
But the president at times sought to soften his harsh, anti-immigrant image, as he has done at times. When asked if he would support a plan that includes a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, Mr. Trump said “possibly, possibly.” He said so-called Dreamers, who were brought to the United States as children, should feel “safe” in the country and that he would “love to be able to do something for them.”
“I’d love to have a comprehensive immigration policy. Something that really worked. It’s about time for the country,” Mr. Trump said, a remarkable statement for a president whose administration has spent the past year demonizing, threatening and rounding up immigrants in raids across the country.
Asked for details of any plan he might have, Mr. Trump seemed to acknowledge the messy politics surrounding an issue that has motivated a large number of his staunchest supporters: “I don’t want to go into that because it’s a very ticklish subject.”
Many of Mr. Trump’s assertions in the interview on Wednesday evening contradict the actions he’s taken since he returned to office nearly one year ago.
Immigration agents, operating at his direction, have already have already targeted some immigrants brought to the country as children. Neither Mr. Trump nor Republicans in Congress have made any effort to create new protections for immigrants like the Dreamers. And the president has effectively shut down asylum at the border, gutted the refugee program and made it harder for many foreigners looking to work in the United States.
Nevertheless, many of his comments to The New York Times were striking because of how deeply they clashed with the views of Stephen Miller, the architect of his immigration policy, and significant portions of his MAGA base.
“I just want people that love our country. It’s very simple,” said Mr. Trump, when asked if his immigration policies — which in some cases favor white people — were aimed at changing the racial makeup of the United States.
Mr. Trump also said he would provide an update on his plans for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, in about a year.
“They should feel safe,” said Mr. Trump, who during his first term tried to wipe it out.
He also acknowledged that he had given the directive for ICE to scale back raids on the agriculture, service and hospitality industries, which rely on immigrant labor.
“They have great people working for them who have been working for them for 25 years,” Mr. Trump said, referring to farmers who hire immigrant workers. “They’re almost like a member of the family.”
He also said he was frustrated by an immigration raid of a Hyundai-LG battery plant in Georgia that outraged officials in South Korea.
“I was very angry about it,” Mr. Trump said. “You know why? Because they have to open a factory and you can’t take a person off the street who’s never seen a battery before and think that they’re going to make highly complex batteries.”
Mr. Trump said the United States needed skilled foreign workers at those factories to train Americans on to how manufacture complex batteries.
“I want them more than they want me and more than they want this country,” Mr. Trump said. “We need people. We’re building factories all over the country.”
And yet, in the same interview, he said his administration was examining criteria for stripping some naturalized American citizens of their citizenship, with a particular focus on the Somali community he has frequently insulted.
“You see conflicting messages sometimes from the same mouth and sometimes from two different mouths in the same agency,” said Muzaffar Chishti, a Migration Policy Institute senior fellow. “His connections to the corporate world are deep and long lasting. He is keen on having the corporate end of his base on his side. And immigration is key on having support on that side.”
His dueling messages could in part be rooted in his awareness that many of his supporters were infuriated by his comments last year embracing foreign students and labor.
When the administration issued guidance to largely pause raids at agriculture sites, meatpacking plants, restaurants and hotels — absent other criminality like human trafficking or drug smuggling — some White House officials who wanted Mr. Trump to maintain his pledge for mass deportations were taken by surprise.
Still, when asked whether he disagrees on certain policies with Mr. Miller — whose views on immigration are on the far right — Mr. Trump said no.
“Stephen’s a very strong voice,” Mr. Trump said. “I don’t think I disagree with him, no.”
And when it came to the shooting death of a 37-year-old Minnesota woman by an ICE officer, which has prompted furious demonstrations, Mr. Trump was back to his hard-line rhetoric. He blamed the woman and stopped short of saying the agent had gone too far.
Mr. Trump said he did not believe ICE’s authority was limitless.
He said agents should not pursue immigrants based on race or ethnicity alone, a comment that could be significant for future court proceedings examining his immigration crackdown.
The Supreme Court has long held that “the Constitution prohibits selective enforcement of the law based on considerations such as race.”
But in at least four major cases, lawyers are arguing officers have been rounding up people, mainly Latino residents, based on mass racial profiling and using tactics that violate prior case law and the Fourth Amendment, which protects against “unreasonable searches and seizures.”
Reporting was contributed by Jazmine Ulloa, Adam Liptak, Katie Rogers, Tyler Pager and David E. Sanger.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.
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