New Senate Majority Leader John Thune has walked back Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans, questioning whether it’s possible to deport every single illegal alien in the country.
Thune expressed his doubts in an interview NBC’s Meet the Press.
Host Kristen Welker asked Thune how “realistic” the plan to deport millions of illegal aliens really is.
“Is it realistic to deport everybody? I mean, there’s a lot of people in this country who are here illegally,” Thune said.
“Anybody who has committed a crime in this country clearly out to be on that list.
“And there are a bunch of folks, over a million… on the current administration’s list of people that need to be deported.
“So start with that, and then we’ll go from there and figure it out. But I think that the administration, when they take office, these are decisions, obviously, they’re going to have to make.
“People have to understand that we are a nation of immigrants, but we are first and foremost a nation of laws, and you’ve got to follow the law,” he said.
President-elect Donald Trump has promised the “largest mass deportation operation in American history” will begin on day one of his second term.
He has appointed formidable immigration veteran Tom Homan, who served as head of ICE during Trump’s first term, as “Border Czar” to preside over the mass deportations.