 President-elect Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration stance was a central part of his campaign message in 2016 -- and he said in an interview Sunday that he plans to immediately deport approximately 2 to 3 million undocumented immigrants. The Mexican government has publicly reminded him that Mexico will not pay for the wall.
– President-elect Trump has provided the first glimpse at his upcoming policies in an interview with CBS' 60 Minutes, specifically on immigration: He says his first priority will be arresting and deporting undocumented immigrants with criminal records. "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 made hardline immigration policy a big part of his campaign, calling at times for the forced deportation of all undocumented immigrants, a temporary ban on Muslim immigration, and the construction of a wall across the border with Mexico (paid for by Mexico). Asked about his plans to build the border wall (which has been estimated to cost between $12 billion and $25 billion, the International Business Times says, depending on whom you ask), the president-elect had a simple answer: "Yes." He says he is open to the idea that some sections could be simple fencing. "For certain areas I would, but certain areas, a wall is more appropriate,” Trump said. He added, “I’m very good at this, it’s called construction." Once the border is "secure," Trump promises to turn his attention to undocumented immigrants with clean records. Hedging his language, all Trump would tell 60 Minutes about potentially deporting that group is that "they’re terrific people, but we are gonna make a determination at that."