US promises Mexico no mass deportations or military force

The US Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly has said there will be “no mass deportations” or use of military force to expel immigrants during Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

He said enforcing new policies would be done legally and with respect for human rights.

Kelly and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Mexican ministers who expressed "concern and irritation" over Trump's combative stance on trade and migration ties with Mexico.

Trump has outraged the United States' southern neighbour by vowing to build a wall along the border to keep out immigrants, and branding those from Mexico as rapists and criminals during his presidential campaign.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Tuesday issued new orders to step up the arrest and deportation of illegal immigrants, many of them Mexicans.

The President had termed the new efforts to arrest and deport more illegal immigrants “a military operation”.

“We’re getting drug lords out,” he said at a White House meeting with business executives. “We’re getting really bad dudes out of this country, at a rate that nobody’s ever seen before.”

However, spokesman Sean Spicer later told a news conference that Trump was using the term "military" simply "as an adjective" to mean "efficient."

Kelly then promised at a news conference in Mexico City on Thursday that "there will be no, repeat, no mass deportations. Everything we do in the DHS will be done legally."

"There will be no use of military force for immigration operations," he added.

On his part, Tillerson said the two sides "reiterated our joint commitment to maintaining law and order along our shared border by stopping potential terrorists and dismantling the transnational criminal networks moving drugs and people into the United States."

But he agreed that cooperation on border security had to work both ways.

"We underscored the importance of stopping the illegal firearms and bulk cash that is originating in the United States and flowing into Mexico," he said.

"There's no mistaking that the rule of law matters along both sides of the border."

There are around 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US, according to the Pew Research Centre. More than half of those living in America illegally are from Mexico,  the organisation in a recent report found.

According to US government estimates, there are 1.9 million “removeable criminal aliens”, or non-US citizens who have committed crimes and are eligible for deportation, in the country.

But this figure is not limited to illegal immigrants, and includes people from other countries living in the US legally – including green card holders – who could still be sent home for breaking the law.