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It has been one of Donald Trump鈥檚 most hard-line promises: he would deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States in less than two years..

鈥淭hey have to go,鈥� the Republican nominee said in August 2015.

Now, it鈥檚 undecided whether Mr. Trump will follow through with this forced deportation of millions of illegal immigrants, his campaign said Sunday.

After two reports Saturday the Trump campaign has started to consider backing away from a deportation 鈥渇orce,鈥� Kellyanne Conway, Trump鈥檚 new campaign manager, told CNN that such a force is 鈥渢o be determined.鈥� When asked by CBS News how Trump would handle all illegal immigrants already in the United States, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Arizona (R) said the nominee 鈥渄id listen鈥� to a Hispanic advisory panel of 23 Latino business and faith leaders.

In the buildup to Trump鈥檚 immigration plan he is expected to unveil Thursday in Colorado, Ms. Conway and Mr. Sessions鈥檚 comments add to speculation over whether Trump will abandon his forced deportation plan, a bedrock of his campaign and one that is massive in scale and in controversy.

鈥淭rump's positions on the issues have changed before. He is not a model of consistency, to put it mildly,鈥� writes the Washington Posts鈥檚 Aaron Blake Sunday. 鈥淏ut this issue was so central to his previous appeals that a change in course would truly be striking.鈥�

On 鈥淪tate of the Union鈥� Sunday morning, CNN鈥檚 Dana Bash twice asked Conway if Trump would abandon his plan for a deportation force he has repeatedly promoted. Conway declined to answer.

"What he supports is to make sure that we enforce the law, that we are respectful of those Americans who are looking for well-paying jobs, and that we are fair and humane for those who live among us in this country," she said. "We need a fair and humane way of dealing with what is estimated to be about 11 million illegal immigrants in this country."

Conway was responding to reports by Buzzfeed and Univision Saturday that Trump and his campaign have started to consider providing undocumented immigrants a path to 鈥渓egalization.鈥� President Obama鈥檚 executive amnesty program was held up by a deadlocked Supreme Court in June.

Buzzfeed reported Saturday that three members of Trump鈥檚 Hispanic advisory panel he met with in New York Saturday said the nominee entertained the idea.

鈥淭rump did not explicitly use the word 鈥渓egalization鈥� at the meeting, but sources in the room said they feel it is the direction the campaign is going,鈥� writes Buzzfeed鈥檚 Adrian Carrasquillo.

The Trump campaign has denied the report.

Univision's Eduardo Su谩rez, meanwhile, reported Trump鈥檚 immigration plan he is set to present Thursday will include 鈥渇inding a way to legalize millions of undocumented immigrants.鈥�

Sen. Sessions said Sunday Trump did not make any 鈥渇irm commitment鈥� at the meeting the day before. 聽

鈥淏ut he did listen and he鈥檚 talking about it,鈥� said Sessions, adding the nominee is 鈥渨restling鈥� with how to deal with those who are already in the US illegally.

Throughout his campaign, Trump has repeatedly indicated a forced deportation program would be nearly 28 times larger than it is now (there are 400,000 deportations a year), and send about 10 times more immigrants across the Mexican border than 鈥淥peration Wetback,鈥� a divisive 1954 program under former President Eisenhower. If conducted within two years, it would surpass the forced resettlements in eastern Europe and Russia during World War II and its aftermath.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 even begin to picture how we would deport 11 million people in a few years where we don鈥檛 have a police state, where the police can鈥檛 break down your door at will and take you away without a warrant,鈥� Michael Chertoff, who led a significant increase in immigration enforcement as the secretary of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush, told The New York Times in May.

Some of the measures experts speculated the plan would have to include would be large-scale raids of factories, farms, restaurants, and construction sites, the FBI and other agencies diverting other resources to deportation, and detention camps similar to the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. Such a plan could also overload already backlogged immigration courts.聽

And questions about Trump鈥檚 immigration plan come as the nominee trails far behind his opponent, Hillary Clinton, among Latinos. According to a Fox News poll published Aug. 11, Clinton leads Trump by 20 points among Latino voters.