President-elect Donald Trump backed away from his promise to build a wall on the US-Mexican border, saying some areas could instead be “fencing”, and added he would move to deport up to 3mn immigrants in the country illegally who have criminal records.
Trump, whose pledge to force Mexico to pay for a border wall was a centrepiece of his White House, said in “certain areas” he would accept fencing instead of a brick-and-mortar wall, according to excerpts released on Sunday of his interview with the CBS programme 60 Minutes.
“But certain areas, a wall is more appropriate. I’m very good at this, it’s called construction, there could be some fencing,” the New York real estate developer said.
Since his Tuesday election victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump and his senior advisers have signalled he may hedge on some of his major campaign promises once he takes office on January 20, including on immigration, healthcare and appointing a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton.
Trump said in the interview once he takes office he would remove immigrants with criminal records who are in the country illegally.
“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 2mn, it could be even 3mn, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate. But we’re getting them out of our country,” he told 60 Minutes.
During the campaign, Trump said he would deport the estimated 11mn immigrants in the country illegally, most of whom are Hispanic.
Trump said Mexico was sending criminals and rapists into the United States.
Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, who will play a key role in getting Trump’s agenda through the Republican-led Congress, backed away from Trump’s promise during the campaign of a “deportation force” to round up and deport immigrants in the country illegally.
“We are not planning on erecting a deportation force. Donald Trump’s not planning on that,” Ryan told CNN’s State of the Union programme. “I think we should put people’s minds at ease. That is not what our focus is. That is not what we’re focused on. We’re focused on securing the border.”
Kevin McCarthy, the No. 2 House Republican, said on Fox News Sunday the wall with Mexico could in parts be a “virtual” wall patrolled by drones.
“You have to put a wall, it could be all virtual with the UAV airplanes as well, but I think that is doable and one of the first things that needs to be done,” McCarthy said, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones.
Senior adviser Kellyanne Conway indicated Trump would be results-oriented as he chooses top aides, prepares his transition to the presidency and gets ready to work with Congress. “He’ll be surrounded by people who want to get things done. Because he’s a transactional guy. He’s a businessman,” Conway said on NBC’s Meet the Press.
Ryan said he agreed with Trump’s comments in a Wall Street Journal interview published on Friday that he would keep elements of President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, known as Obamacare.
Repealing and replacing the 2010 Affordable Care Act was another centrepiece of Trump’s campaign.