President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on a pledge to deport the millions of illegal migrants who have entered the country since President Joe Biden entered office.

However, this past weekend saw the Senate's top Republican question whether such an undertaking is feasible. 

John Thune highlights number of criminals who are in the U.S.

According to Breitbart, that skepticism was raised by Senate Majority Leader John Thune during a Sunday appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Thune: Trump administration will have to ‘make decisions’ on a ‘realistic’ deportation plan https://t.co/T9zabS8Gt3

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) January 5, 2025

"Well I think certainly there are categories, people who have committed crimes. There are over a million people that the current administration had targeted for deportation," the South Dakota Republican said when asked about Trump's goal by host Kristen Welker.

"So I think that we have to take seriously the fact that there are a lot of people in this country today, over 10 million who came in over the last four years under the current administration’s policies, and many of whom are not here for good reasons," Thune stressed.

"We know we apprehended people on the terrorist border on the watch list, and you have gang members and cartel members and all of the above," he added.

Thune pledges to ensure Trump "has the resources"

Yet Welker recalled how in 2016, Thune suggested that it was "not realistic" to expel everyone who was residing in the United State illegally.

When the host asked if Thune had changed his mind, he did not directly answer but pledged "to make sure the administration has the resources they need."

"Is it realistic to deport everybody?" the lawmaker asked rhetorically before noting how "there are a lot of people in this country who are here illegally."

"I think the administration, when they take office, these are decisions that obviously that they’ll have to make," Thune went on to state.

Trump willing to make exceptions for certain illegal aliens

Meanwhile, Fox News reported last month that Trump told Welker his open to making exceptions for some illegal aliens who were brought to the U.S. as children.

"They were brought into this country many years ago, some of them are no longer young people, and in many cases, they become successful," Trump acknowledged.

"They have great jobs. In some cases, they have small businesses. In some cases, they might have large businesses, and we're going to have to do something with them," he added.