Donald Trump has vowed to immediately deport 3million illegal immigrants with criminal records in one of his first acts as President of the United States.

The President-elect hinted that he is prepared to water down his plans to build a “beautiful” giant wall on the border with Mexico, admitting that it may in fact be part wall and part fence.

However he made clear that he plans to push ahead with the deportation of illegal immigrants with criminal records, claiming that there are between 2 and 3million in the US.

His comments appeared to contradict his previous suggestion that there are 180,000 illegal immigrants with criminal records who have been ordered to leave the US but have refused to do so.

They also opened a clear split with Paul Ryan, the Republican House Speaker, who repeatedly refused to endorse Mr Trump during the election campaign.

Mr Ryan said that he wanted to put people's "minds at ease" and assure them that Mr Trump's administration will on securing the border instead of building a deportation task force.