US Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz has denounced the “deportation force” proposed by Donald Trump to round up and deport 11 million undocumented immigrants.

In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Cruz said, “I don’t intend to send jack boots to knock on your door and every door in America, that’s not the way we enforce the law for any crime.”

“We don’t have any system that knocks on the doors of every house in America,” Cruz said. “That is not how the American law enforcement system works. We also don’t have people door-to-door looking for murderers. We don’t live in a police state. We do have law enforcement. How do we catch people? We catch people through things like e-verify.”

Trump, who has never held elected office, is still leading the crowded Republican presidential primary field, despite the fact that his campaign has been marked by controversial statements, including with disparaging remarks about Mexican immigrants and Muslims.

Trump has said he would deport 11 million undocumented workers from the United States and would establish a "deportation force" for this purpose. "You're going to have a deportation force, and you're going to do it humanely.”

He has also promised to expel undocumented immigrants and build a wall on the US-Mexico border. In addition, he has proposed repealing the constitutional right to citizenship of anyone born on US soil.

“You have millions of people that are waiting in line to come into this country and they’re waiting to come in legally,” Trump said on November 11. “And I always say the wall, we’re going to build the wall. It’s going to be a real deal. It’s going to be a real wall.”