--- title: Donald Trump Plans to Deport Up to 3 Million Immigrants description: President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview that he plans to deport about two to three million undocumented immigrants canonical: https://time.com/4569034/donald-trump-undocumented-immigrant-deportation/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-13T17:13:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:18.152Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Plans to Deport Up to 3 Million Immigrants og:description: Meanwhile, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said there would be no deportation force og:url: https://time.com/4569034/donald-trump-undocumented-immigrant-deportation/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0fcd7cd9b65fee5c/6988ae45524fc01dbcdfa3a8/donald-trump-02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Mitch McConnell Meets With Trump And Pence On Capitol Hill og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Plans to Deport Up to 3 Million Immigrants twitter:description: Meanwhile, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said there would be no deportation force twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0fcd7cd9b65fee5c/6988ae45524fc01dbcdfa3a8/donald-trump-02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Plans to Deport Up to 3 Million Immigrants > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Nov 13, 2016 5:13 PM UTC  President-elect Donald Trump walks from a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Nov. 10, 2016. President-elect Donald Trump walks from a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Nov. 10, 2016. Mark Wilson—Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Nov 13, 2016 5:13 PM UTC President-elect Donald Trump said he plans to deport about two to three million undocumented immigrants, speaking in a [pre-taped interview](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/president-elect-trump-says-how-many-immigrants-hell-deport/) that will air Sunday night. “What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, we have 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,” Trump said in an [interview with CBS’ _60 Minutes_](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/president-elect-trump-says-how-many-immigrants-hell-deport/). “But we’re getting them out of our country. They’re here illegally.” Trump campaigned on a promise to [crack down on illegal immigration](http://time.com/4475417/donald-trump-immigration-policy-mexico-deportation/), vowing to build a wall along the Mexican border. Asked in the _60 Minutes_ interview if he plans to actually build the wall, he said yes, adding that parts of the border might include fencing. “But for certain areas, a wall is appropriate. I’m very good at this. It’s called construction,” he said. Trump has used the “two million” figure previously, but experts have poked holes in its accuracy. Citing data from the Department of Homeland Security and the Migration Policy Institute, the [Washington _Post_ reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/09/02/trumps-fuzzy-math-on-undocumented-immigrants-convicted-of-crimes/) that there are 1.9 million “removable criminal aliens” in the U.S., a category that includes any non-citizens with a criminal conviction—both legal residents and undocumented immigrants. Of that number, about 820,000 are undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of a crime, the _Post_ reported. “After the border is secure and after everything gets normalized, we’re going to make a determination on the people that you’re talking about who are terrific people, they’re terrific people but we are gonna make a determination at that,” Trump said on _60 Minutes_. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan on Sunday appeared to contradict Trump’s deportation plans, while advocating for strong border security. “We are not planning on erecting a deportation force. Donald Trump’s not planning on that,” Ryan said in an [interview with CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/13/politics/paul-ryan-donald-trump-obamacare-deportation-force/). “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,” he said. “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.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4569034/donald-trump-undocumented-immigrant-deportation/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4569034/donald-trump-undocumented-immigrant-deportation/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Plans to Deport Up to 3 Million Immigrants","datePublished":"2016-11-13T17:13:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:18.152Z","description":"Meanwhile, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said there would be no deportation force","url":"https://time.com/4569034/donald-trump-undocumented-immigrant-deportation/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Paul Ryan","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0fcd7cd9b65fee5c/6988ae45524fc01dbcdfa3a8/donald-trump-02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0fcd7cd9b65fee5c/6988ae45524fc01dbcdfa3a8/donald-trump-02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Mitch McConnell Meets With Trump And Pence On Capitol Hill","caption":"WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 10: President-elect Donald Trump walks from a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at the U.S. Capitol November 10, 2016 in Washington, DC. 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