Washington (CNN) Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker endorsed a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants during a private dinner with Republican leaders in New Hampshire two weeks ago, backing away from the more hard-line position he has staked out in public and obscuring where he stands on the hot-button issue.

At a March 13 dinner at the Copper Door Restaurant in Bedford organized by New Hampshire GOP Chairwoman Jennifer Horn, Walker, a likely candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, was asked how he would address the problem of roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States.

After he declared that securing the United States border with Mexico is "our first priority," Walker said that undocumented immigrants now residing in the country could "secure their citizenship" as long as they "get in the back of line" and wait like anyone else applying for citizenship.

The comments, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, were relayed to CNN by a Republican briefed on the dinner who did not want to be identified.