President-elect Donald Trump says he plans to deport ‘probably two million, it could be even three million’ undocumented immigrants.
Speaking to CBS News in his first TV interview since his election win, he confirmed that he still plans to build a wall along the US border with Mexico – but accepted that some parts might end up as more of a ‘fence’.
Asked how many people he planned to deport, he said: ‘What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate,’ he said.
‘But we’re getting them out of our country, they’re here illegally.
‘After the border is secure and after everything gets normalized, we’re going to make a determination on the people that they’re talking about who are terrific people, they’re terrific people but we are gonna make a determination at that– But before we make that determination– Lesley, it’s very important, we are going to secure our border.’
Asked if he would accept a fence along the border instead of a wall, he said: ‘For certain areas I would, but certain areas, a wall is more appropriate. I’m very good at this, it’s called construction.’
Interviewer Lesley Stahl asked if he meant ‘part wall, part fence’ and he agreed: ‘There could be some fencing.’
The line of questioning came from reports that the ‘wall’ with Mexico, which Trump made a pivotal part of his election campaign, would be too expensive.
There are an estimated 10.9 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, many of whom have spent most of their lives in America.
Over a million undocumented immigrants who arrived as children signed up to an amnesty offered by the Obama administration – but they now fear they could be first in line for getting deported
