The new administration taking charge of the White House in January 2017 will look to deport up to three million criminal immigrants as quickly as possible, President-Elect, Donald Trump declared yesterday. He added that the wider exclusions he campaigned for during the election would have to wait until the US border has been secured.
These comments were made during an interview on Sunday’s edition of 60 Minutes on CBS. Trump said that his administration would make it a priority to incarcerate or deport between two and three million immigrants who have criminal records. Only after this has been achieved and the border secured would a decision be made on any further deportations.
Trump’s estimate of the number of immigrants with criminal records seems to be more than the actual figure. The nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute states that 820,000 undocumented immigrants in the US have criminal records. Trump’s figure, which he also stated in August, appears to come from data supplied by the nonprofit organization, Center for Immigration Studies, which wants to cut down on the nation’s immigration levels. That report was based on one from the Department of Homeland Security, which also included legal immigrants.
The deportation of undocumented immigrants with criminal histories will be the new administration’s major priority, Newt Gingrich told the Face the Nation program. House Speaker, Paul Ryan, said that the Republicans are not planning a deportation force and will focus on securing the US border.