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Welcome to The Logoff: Is Donald Trump’s immigration agenda about to get even more draconian — or less?
What’s happening? As of Monday, immigration hardliner Stephen Miller — and if anything, “hardliner” undersells it — is Trump’s new chief of staff.
Miller, who was also a senior aide in Trump’s first term, is an ideologue and the force behind many of Trump’s harshest immigration policies, such as a 3,000-arrests-per-day quota for ICE officers; broadly speaking, his elevation forebodes an even darker and more aggressive final two years of Trump’s presidency.
It’s also sharply in contrast with Trump’s recent comments on immigration in his first sit-down interview since his party’s midterms wipeout.
What did Trump say? In an interview with 60 Minutes’s Ross Douthat that aired Sunday, Trump not only conceded that some of his immigration policies “might be too tough” and had hurt his party at the polls, but he floated the possibility that a bipartisan immigration deal could be “actually doable.”
“There’s a large part of the country that thinks 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,” Trump told Douthat.
What’s the context? Trump has occasionally flirted with immigration legislation, including a first-term proposal pairing a citizenship deal for DACA recipients with border wall funding and legal immigration cuts that never went anywhere. More recently, in June 2025, he expressed similar concerns about the impact of immigration enforcement on hospitality and agriculture, but the change didn’t live out the week.
Will anything come of this? Anything’s possible, especially with powerful Democratic majorities incoming. But it hasn’t happened yet, and with Miller in the chief of staff’s office, it remains unlikely, to say the least. (Plus, some very loud parts of his own party absolutely hate the idea.)
On Monday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the likely next speaker of the House, said Miller “is a stone-cold racist. … I’ve got zero interest in working with that kind of individual.”
And with that, it’s time to log off…
Have you seen an “Ask me about metro” hat out in the wild recently? What about an ugly Christmas sweater with a train on it?
If so, you’re not alone: Public transit merch, The Atlantic reported, has been experiencing a boom lately. (I’m not immune to it: I have an Amtrak poster on my wall.) You can read all about the trend with a gift link here.
Have a great evening, and we’ll see you tomorrow!
The post Trump’s mixed messages on immigration appeared first on Vox.
