NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump told CBS’ “60 Minutes” he plans to immediately deport approximately 2 to 3 million undocumented immigrants once he takes office.
“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,” Trump said in the interview that airs Sunday night. “But we’re getting them out of our country, they’re here illegally.”
Trump also confirmed one of the centerpieces of his campaign: he plans to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, despite several reminders from the Mexican government that it will not pay for the wall, as Trump has demanded it does.
He told “60 Minutes” the wall could be part wall and “some fencing” which would fall in line with what some Republican congress members have proposed.
Trump said immigration officials will begin to make a “determination” about remaining undocumented immigrants after the border is “secure.”
“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,” he said. “But before we make that determination…it’s very important, we are going to secure our border.”
CBS News reported that Trump transition co-chair Newt Gingrich said the wall was “a great campaign device.”