President Donald Trump asserted in a televised interview that his administration’s enforcement efforts through ICE “haven’t gone far enough,” following public backlash over a viral video showing an on-duty agent shoving a woman to the ground at a courthouse. The remarks came during his first sit-down with 60 Minutes since returning to office, filmed at his Mar-a-Lago estate and aired Sunday night. He placed blame on what he called “liberal judges” appointed by past administrations for limiting the reach of his immigration crackdown.
Trump doubles down on enforcement tactics
In the interview, Trump was asked whether recent ICE operations may have “gone too far,” citing footage of a mother being tackled and the use of tear gas in residential areas. He responded bluntly: “No. I think they haven’t gone far enough because we’ve been held back … by the liberal judges that were put in by Biden and by Obama.” He defended the raiding tactics by declaring that agents are “held to the highest professional standards,” yet added sharply, “many of them are murderers.”
He went on to say that the administration’s policy must be: “You came into the country illegally, you’re going to go out … and you’re going to come back into our country legally.” The exchange highlights a shift toward an even harder line on immigration policy under his leadership.
Public outcry and political implications
The interview follows a widely shared video of an ICE agent aggressively tackling an Ecuadoran woman outside a New York immigration court, with her children witnessing the incident. That footage sparked condemnation from the Department of Homeland Security, whose assistant secretary called the conduct “unacceptable and beneath the men and women of ICE.” Yet the agent was later reinstated pending a full review.
Critics say Trump’s comments risk legitimising forceful, militarised tactics by ICE – including tear gas deployments, smashed vehicle windows and raids in minority-neighbourhoods which civil liberties groups argue violate due process and target non-violent immigrants like landscaping workers, nannies and service industry staff. The president’s remarks also fuel ongoing tensions between federal enforcement ambitions and local governments resisting deployments of National Guard or federal agents, particularly in Democratic-run cities.