Donald Trump says parts of the wall between Mexico and the US will actually be a fence

'I’m very good at this, it’s called construction,' says the President-elect

Donald Trump has said some parts of the wall he pledged to build along the border between Mexico and the US will actually be a fence.

"There could be some fencing," he told CBS News. "For certain areas I would [accept a fence], but certain areas, a wall is more appropriate. I’m very good at this, it’s called construction."

The network released portions of the President-elect's first interview following his surprise victory in advance of its broadcast on Sunday night.

Mr Trump also told CBS's 60 Minutes he was willing to deport or incarcerate two to three million people living in the country illegally who “are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers.”

Such a promise was directly at odds with House Speaker Paul Ryan, who told CNN's State of the Union on Sunday that mass deportation is not a focus of Republicans right now.

Ryan said “I think we should put people's minds at ease” on mass deportation and that the government's top priority should be border security.

Mr Trump campaigned on a vow to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it. He also has insisted he will deport all 11 million people in the country illegally, with exceptions.

The border between the US and Mexico stretches over 3,200 kilometres between California and Texas and is the world's most frequently-crossed controlled international boundary.

There is currently a series of relatively short walls and fences designed to prevent illegal border crossings and a system of sensors and cameras monitored by Border Patrol forces where there is no physical barrier in place.

Mr Trump explained that once the border is “secure”, then the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement will assess the status of the remaining undocumented immigrants in the country.

“After the border is secure and after everything gets normalized, we’re going to make a determination on the people that they’re talking about who are terrific people, they’re terrific people but we are gonna make a determination at that,” he said.

“But before we make that determination [...] it’s very important, we are going to secure our border.”