Donald Trump has vowed to push ahead with his hard line campaign promise of deporting illegal immigrants, saying he plans to deport approximately two to three million undocumented migrants immediately upon taking up 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,” the US president-elect said in an excerpt released ahead of the broadcast by CBS’s 60 Minutes program.
The billionaire real estate baron made security at the US-Mexico border a central plank of his insurgent presidential campaign, which resulted in last Tuesday’s shock election victory against his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
Trump added that the barrier to be erected on the US border with Mexico may not consist entirely of brick and mortar, but that fencing could be used in some areas.
“There could be some fencing,” Trump says in his first prime time interview since being elected president last week.
“But (for) certain areas, a wall is more appropriate. I’m very good at this, it’s called construction,” he told 60 Minutes.
Trump’s comments in the interview, which is set to be broadcast in full at 7pm US eastern time on Sunda, quash any hopes that the Republican may be more moderate on immigration as a leader than the hard line he touted on the campaign trail.
They also seemed to contradict an interview that Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan gave on Sunday to CNN in which he said there were no plans to erect a deportation force to roundup and deport undocumented immigrants.
“We are not planning on erecting a deportation force. Donald Trump’s not planning on that,” Ryan told CNN.
“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. We think that’s first and foremost, before we get into any other immigration issue, we’ve got to know who’s coming and going into the country – we’ve got to secure the border,” he added.
TRUMP BACK TO TWITTER RANTS
The interview preview came as Trump once again lashed out at his enemies on social media. Hours after he promised to be more restrained he gloated about his win in one of his trademark Twitter sprees.
Trump, whose sensational election win against Hillary Clinton blindsided much of the media, took aim at the New York Times.
He also showed off about the calls he had received from the Bush family, including former presidents George W. Bush, George Bush senior, Jeb Bush and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Romney vowed not to vote for him. Jeb Bush was also critical of him during the campaign.
Trump tweeted twice on Sunday about the New York Times’ “bad” and “highly inaccurate” coverage of his campaign and claimed it was losing “thousands of subscribers.” In a letter to subscribers after the election, the publisher of the Times questioned whether Trump’s “sheer unconventionality” led the paper and other news outlets to underestimate his support among American voters. The letter vowed to “rededicate” the Times to its mission of reporting news “without fear or favour.”
The paper has been one of Trump’s most ardent critics and during the campaign broke stories about him not paying taxes, and interviews with women accusing the president-elect of sexual assault. He denies the charges.
CELEBS ATTACK OPRAH OVER TRUMP
Meanwhile, Oprah Winfrey has taken flak from other celebrities after she said she saw chances for hope in a Trump presidency.
The TV host tweeted a photo of Trump at the White House on Thursday with President Barack Obama, adding the caption, “Everybody take a breath! Hope lives.”
She also told Entertainment Tonight that seeing the pair together had “given her hope”.
But many stars and fans of the TV mogul were angry at this response.
American actor Heather Matarazzo, star of Welcome to the Dollhouse, said: “Oprah, you can take a deep breath and hold it while the rest of us literally fight for our lives right now. #smh.”
June Diane Raphael, from the TV show Grace & Frankie also urged Oprah not to “normalise this man”. “Minority children are already being targeted,” she tweeted.
But documentary-maker Michael Moore – who predicted a Trump win – said the Democrats would fare better if they ran beloved personalities for president – including Oprah.
“Democrats would be better off if they ran Oprah or Tom Hanks … why don’t we run beloved people?” Moore told CNN.
“We have so many of them. The Republicans do this – they run (actor Ronald) Reagan and the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and other people. Why don’t we run somebody that the American people love and are really drawn to, and that are smart and have good politics and all that?”
TRUMP’S EX DEMANDING PLUM JOB
Now that her ex-husband is president-elect, Ivana Trump is ready to serve her country.
“I will suggest that I be ambassador for the Czech Republic,” Ms Trump told The New York Post. “[That] is where I’m from and my language and everybody knows me. I’m quite known all around the world. Not only in America. I have written three books, and they were translated in 40 countries in 25 languages. I’m known by the name Ivana. I really did not need the name Trump.”
INSIDERS SAY TRUMP IS ‘DISGUSTED’ BY CHRISTIE
Trump is so disgusted with Chris Christie’s handling of the Bridgegate scandal that he’s kicking the New Jersey Governor out of his inner circle, The New York Post has learned.
“Trump thought it was shameful that Christie didn’t take the fall for [convicted aide] Bridget Kelly,” said a source close to the transition team. “Trump is really angry that Christie is sending a soccer mum to jail. He believes 100 per cent that Christie was behind it all.”
Christie’s former deputy chief of staff was convicted in federal court earlier this month along with former Port Authority executive Bill Baroni. They were charged with causing dangerous traffic tie-ups on the George Washington Bridge in September 2013 as political payback for Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich not endorsing Christie.
“Trump really doesn’t like it when married women with kids get hurt in politics,” said the source. “Trump was pretty disgusted with Christie.”
Christie was formally pushed aside on Friday as chair of Trump’s transition team and the job given to Vice President-elect Mike Pence.
