Hillary Clinton concedes illegal immigration in U.S. 'went too far,' has been 'disruptive and destabilizing'

Hillary Clinton, speaking at the 2026 Munich Security Conference, said immigration in the U.S. has been 'disruptive and destabilizing.'

Former Secretary of State and two-time presidential also-ran Hillary Clinton admitted during remarks at a security conference in Germany on Saturday that illegal immigration in the U.S. "went too far." Clinton made the surprising admission at the Munich Security Conference where many other high-profile politicians spoke, and after having spent most of the last 10 years criticizing President Donald Trump's tough-on-illegal immigration policies. 

"There is a legitimate reason to have a debate about things like migration," Clinton, who was part of a panel called "The West-West Divide: What Remains of Common Values," told the audience. "It went too far, it’s been disruptive and destabilizing, and it needs to be fixed in a humane way with secure borders that don’t torture and kill people, and how we’re going to have a strong family structure because it is at the base of civilization." 

Clinton also touted the administrations of Barack Obama and her husband, Bill Clinton, for deporting more illegal immigrants than the Trump administration has expelled from the country. 

"More people were deported under my husband and Barack Obama without killing American citizens and without putting children into detention camps than were in the first Trump term or this first year of Trump’s second term,” Clinton said, making no mention of the fact that immigration enforcement officials under the Obama and Clinton administrations weren't met with dramatic resistance in the way ICE officials have sometimes been harassed and attacked by violent protesters since Trump returned to office in 2025. 

In terms of the numbers Clinton cited, according to The New York Post, the Clinton administration deported more than 12 million illegal immigrants over the course of two terms, and the Obama administration deported 5 million during two terms. The two Trump administrations, over the course of five years, have deported about 3 million, The Post reported, in addition to 2.2 million who have self-deported, according to the Department of Homeland Security. 

Not surprisingly, as video clips of Clinton's comments pinged around the U.S. social media ecosystem, strong reactions were voiced, including from many who wondered what prompted Clinton's unexpected about-face, and others who recalled Clinton making similar remarks prior to Trump's arrival in the U.S. political arena. 

The Hillary Clinton speaking in Munich sounded a lot like the Hillary Clinton of 2008, who ultimately lost the race for her party's presidential nomination to Obama. At a campaign event in 2008, Clinton, discussing illegal immigration, told supporters, "If they’ve committed a crime, deport them. No questions asked. You’re gone!" She went on to demand that if illegal immigrants wanted any hope at being U.S. citizens, they should "learn English," among other things. 

Even as recently as 2014, a little more than a year before Donald Trump came down the escalator at Trump Tower and forever shook up American politics, Clinton said during a CNN town hall, "We have to send a clear message that just because your child gets across the border, that doesn't mean the child gets to stay." When pressed by CNN's Christiane Amanpour on whether children as young as 5 and 6 years old should be sent back to their countries of origin, Clinton responded, "They should be sent back." Within two years of those remarks to Amanpour, Clinton did a complete 180 on this issue in opposition to Trump. 

Interestingly, Clinton's shift on the topic of immigration comes just a few days after new polling showed 58% of Americans believe Democrats have become "too liberal." Clinton stopped well short of going full MAGA, however. In fact, she mocked Trump's idea of making America great again, "accused him of being bullying and shameful," and, perhaps in an attempt to one-up AOC, lashed out at "white men and capitalist enterprise." 

Below, watch a clip of Clinton's remarks from the Munich Security Conference.

Then, compare that with her comments on the campaign trail in 2008 below.