Thune Questions if It Is ‘Realistic’ to Deport Everybody in the Country Illegally

Senator Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) questioned if deporting everyone in the United States illegally was “realistic” Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Host Kristen Welker said, “Let’s talk about the Republicans’ agenda. When I spoke to President-elect Donald Trump he said his mass deportation plan was his top priority. He wants to deport everyone who is here illegally. Do you support that plan to deport everyone who is here illegally?”

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Welker said, “In 2016, you said deporting everyone here illegally was not realistic. Have you changed your mind?”

Thune said, “{snip} Is it realistic to deport everybody? I mean, there are a lot of people in this country who are here illegally, but I think they have identified already, and anybody who has committed a crime in the country ought to be on the list, and there are about a million, 1.4 million, I think, on the current administration’s list of people that need to be deported. So start with that, and then we will go from there, and we’ll figure it out. I think the administration, when they take office, these are decisions that obviously that they’ll have to make.”