House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) adjusts a podium sign at a news conference with House Republican leaders after a closed conference meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 13, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Wednesday he did not think people brought to the United States illegally as children should be deported but fixing a program that shields them must be part of larger immigration changes.

“I do believe that kicking these 800,000 kids out to countries that they’ve probably not been to since they were toddlers, in countries that speak languages they may not even know, is not in our nations’ interest,” Ryan told The Associated Press in an interview.