Trump previews immigration actions and Jan. 6 pardons in first TV interview since election

President-elect Donald Trump previewed immigration actions he plans to take in his first days in office and outlined how he expects his Justice Department to handle investigations into his political opponents and the criminal cases against January 6 defendants in his first network television interview since winning November’s presidential election.

President-elect Donald Trump previewed immigration actions he plans to take in his first days in office and outlined how he expects his Justice Department to handle investigations into his political opponents and the criminal cases against January 6 rioters in his first major television interview since winning November’s presidential election. In the wide-ranging interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker, Trump reiterated his campaign pledge to launch mass deportations of people who immigrated to the US illegally and end birthright citizenship, but he also suggested he’s willing to work with Democrats to craft a plan to protect thousands of immigrants who were brought to the US as children — marking his clearest comments yet on the subject. “We have to do something about the Dreamers, because these are people that have been brought here at a very young age, and many of these are middle-aged people now. They don’t even speak the language of their country. And yes, we’re going to do something about that,” Trump said in his “Meet the Press” interview, which was taped on Friday and aired in full on Sunday. “I will work with the Democrats on a plan, and if we can come up with a plan — but the Democrats have made it very, very difficult to do anything. Republicans are very open to the Dreamers,” he added. Trump had previously expressed some support for protecting Dreamers during his first term in office, although his administration tried to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the Obama-era program that protects them from deportation. That attempt was blocked by the Supreme Court in 2020. Trump said his administration’s mass deportation efforts will target people with criminal histories, but indicated it could go beyond deporting criminals — without specifying who the “other people outside of criminals” would be. When asked if he plans to deport every person who has entered the country illegally, he said, “I think you have to do it.”