United States President, Donald Trump, has admitted that his administration’s immigration crackdown may have been too tough, following the Republican Party’s defeat in the country’s midterm elections.

In an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes programme, Trump said he believed he deserved credit for drastically reducing illegal border crossings but acknowledged that his sweeping deportation policy had politically hurt his party.

The president said the crackdown had both helped and hurt Republicans, particularly because it affected some undocumented immigrants who had lived and worked in the United States for several years.

Trump, however, maintained that his administration deserved high marks for deporting people he described as dangerous, while admitting that some immigrants with regular jobs were also affected.

His comments came despite the Department of Homeland Security insisting that the administration was not backing down on its immigration enforcement measures.

Election-day polling identified immigration as the third most important issue for voters, after the economy and the state of democracy.

In traditionally Republican states such as Texas, a shift in support among Latino voters towards the Democratic Party contributed to the party’s significant gains in Congress.

Trump also expressed willingness to work with congressional Democrats on a possible immigration agreement, although he did not provide details of the proposed arrangement.