Donald Trump has said there is “no price tag” for his campaign promise of mass deportations.
The US president-elect said one of his priorities upon taking office in January was to make the US border “strong and powerful”, part of what he said was a mandate “to bring common sense” to America following his election victory over Kamala Harris.
As a candidate, Mr Trump often said he would begin the “largest deportation effort in American history”.
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Speaking to NBC News, Sky’s US partner, he dismissed concerns about the cost of his plan, saying “it’s not a question of a price tag. It’s not – really, we have no choice”.
He also pointed to what he has identified as issues of crime linked to immigration, saying that when people “have killed and murdered, when drug lords have destroyed countries and now they’re going to go back to those countries because they’re not staying here. There is no price tag”.
“We obviously have to make the border strong and powerful, and we have to – at the same time, we want people to come into our country,” he added.
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“And you know, I’m not somebody that says, ‘no, you can’t come in.’ We want people to come in.”
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It’s difficult to know how many undocumented immigrants there are in the US, but Patrick J Lechleitner, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told NBC News in July that a mass deportation effort would be a huge logistical and financial challenge.
In the election, the Republican candidate enjoyed gains among Latino voters, whom many believed would reject him over his anti-immigration rhetoric and racist jokes about Puerto Rico made by a comedian at his rally at Madison Square Garden last month.
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Rather than losing him votes, Mr Trump indicated on Thursday that his own tough stance and his message on immigration was partly responsible for his win.
Mr Trump said: “They want to have borders, and they like people coming in, but they have to come in with love for the country. They have to come in legally.”
He also mentioned the gains he made from 2020 among young voters, women, and Asian American voters, accusing Democrats of not being in line “with the thinking of the country”.
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The president-elect also discussed the phone conversations he had with Ms Harris and US President Joe Biden since the election, calling them “very nice” and “very respectful both ways”.
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He said the US vice president “talked about transition, and she said she’d like it to be smooth as can be, which I agree with, of course”.
