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President Trump indicated again Tuesday that heis open tooverhauling the countrysimmigration laws, including a path to legal status for nonviolent offenders, a departure from the harsh crackdown on illegal immigration that he has instituted since taking office.

Trump was considering calling foran immigration reform bill in his high-profile speech to Congress on Tuesday night, he told a group of television anchors earlier in the day.

Trump has expressed a willingness to soften his stance before. He told senators as recently as two weeks ago that they should revive the 2013 proposal that died in the House.

Such a move would be a dramatic about-face from the actions he has taken so far, chieflysigningorders last month that subject to deportation virtually all of the 11 million people in the U.S.

Nonetheless, Trumpsaid Tuesday during a lunch with television anchors that the time may be right for immigration reform if both sides compromise, according to PBS NewsHour correspondent John Yang and others present.

Trump believes Congress may be in a position to navigate one of the thorniest policy thickets after two failures to pass a bill in the last decade, including the 2013 effort.

The president has been very clear in his process that the immigration system is broken and needs massive reform, and hes made clear that hes open to having conversations about that moving forward, Sarah H. Sanders, White Housedeputy press secretary, told reporters Tuesday.

She wouldn't say whether Trump will include a call for immigration reform in his address to lawmakers.

Right now, his primary focus, as he has made clear over and over again, is border control and security at the border and deporting criminals from our country, and keeping our country safe, and those priorities have not changed, Sanders said.

During his first week in office, Trump wiped away restrictions on immigration officers, opening the door to deportations for millions of immigrants in the country illegally.

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Live updates: Trump will pitch his agenda to lawmakers in speech before Congress - Los Angeles Times