President-elect vows to deport or imprison up to 3 million immigrants

"What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million -- we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate," Trump said in an excerpt released ahead of broadcast by CBS's 60 Minutes program.

The billionaire real estate baron made security at the US-Mexico border a central plank of his insurgent presidential campaign, which resulted in last Tuesday's shock election victory against his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Trump added that the barrier to be erected on the US border with Mexico may not consist entirely of brick and mortar, but that fencing could be used in some areas.

"But (for) certain areas, a wall is more appropriate. I'm very good at this, it's called construction," he tells CBS.