White House spokesman Sean Spicer briefs reporters on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017. (Screen grab from C-SPAN)

(CNSNews.com) – “We have an obligation to make sure that the people…in our country are here legally,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters on Tuesday, shortly after the Department of Homeland Security released two memos, explaining how Trump’s immigration policy will take shape.

“Is one of the goals here mass deportation?” a reporter asked him.

“No,” Spicer replied.

But Spicer also told reporters: "Remember, everybody who is here illegally is subject to removal at any time. That is consistent with every country, not just ours. If you're in this country in an illegal manner, that obviously -- that there's a provision that could ensure that you'd be removed."

Spicer said the new guidance prioritizes the people who are here illegally, “who represent a threat to the public, who have a criminal record.” Those people will be “adjudicated first and foremost,” Spicer said. “That's it, plain and simple.”

The guidance issued by Homeland Security Secretary Gen. Jack Kelly on Tuesday rescinds “all existing, conflicting” immigration guidance issued by the last president, with the exception of President Barack Obama’s DACA and DAPA programs.

“The message from this White House and from the DHS is that those people who are in this country and pose a threat to our public, or have committed a crime, will be the first to go, and we will be aggressively making sure that that occurs,” Spicer said. That - that - that is what the priority is.”

This is not a small group of people, Spicer noted: “We’re talking close to a million people who have already been adjudicated, and had their - their status processed through a formal due process system. And so what we need to do now is to make sure that we focus the resources and the efforts on those people going first and foremost.”

As CNSNews.com reported, the administration’s immigration policy does not deal with people enrolled in DACA or DAPA, unless they break the law, in which case they would become removal priorities.

The guidance clearly states that except for people in the DACA and DAPA program, DHS will no longer exempt entire classes or categories of removable aliens from potential deportation.

Criminals may be the priority, but the guidance includes people who have not been convicted:

The guidance states:

Department personnel should prioritize removable aliens who:

(I) have been convicted of any criminal offense;

(2) have been charged with any criminal offense that has not been resolved;

(3) have committed acts which constitute a chargeable criminal offense;

(4) have engaged in fraud or willful misrepresentation in connection with any official matter before a governmental agency;

(5) have abused any program related to receipt of public benefits;

(6) are subject to a final order of removal but have not complied with their legal obligation to depart the United States; Or,

(7) in the judgment of an immigration officer, otherwise pose a risk to public safety or national security.

The memo also says immigration officials may “issue further guidance to … prioritize enforcement activities within these categories -- for example, by prioritizing enforcement activities against removable aliens who are convicted felons or who are involved in gang activity or drug trafficking.”

Spicer said immigration and Border Patrol agents have “had their hands cuffed behind them” for too long.

“But right now, what we've done is to make sure that they have the ability and the guidance and the resources to do what they - what their mission is, and that's it, plain and simple. And the president is consistent with his priority of making sure that those people who pose a threat to this country are the first ones to go.”