WSJ: Trump told aides Miller went too far after Melania complained about deportations

By Sandra Rhodes (/journals/sandra-rhodes)

President Donald Trump realized his administration’s approach to immigration was going in the wrong direction when the first lady complained about how it was affecting her friends. The Wall Street Journal reported on when the president realized how much of a problem the immigration issue had become. At the start of his second term, Trump believed he had a mandate on immigration. But something went wrong. “The war wasn’t the only issue contributing to Tuesday’s crushing defeat for Republicans. Trump also lost his advantage on immigration. An aggressive enforcement operation brought illegal border crossings to the lowest level in decades, but it led to conflicts in U.S. cities that resulted in the shooting deaths of two Americans in Minnesota last winter. On Tuesday, counties that were 80% or more Hispanic favored Democrats by 40 percentage points,” the outlet reported. “Trump vacillated on immigration throughout the year, sometimes telling aides he wanted a bigger crackdown,” the report continued. After first lady Melania Trump complained about people she knew getting deported, the president would tell aides that the architect of his aggressive immigration campaign, Stephen Miller, had gone too far. Republicans in Texas and Florida privately complained to the White House.” It’s not clear when Melania Trump actually complained, or which of her friends were deported. On Jan. 7, Minnesota resident Renee Good was shot and killed as she sat in her car while protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis. On Jan. 24, Alex Pretti, a nurse, was also fatally shot during a confrontation with border patrol agents in Minneapolis, as he filmed the agents trying to arrest someone. Both Good and Pretti were 37. On Tuesday, as the power in Congress went to Democrats, people traveled to memorials for Good and Pretti, leaving their “I voted” stickers.

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