President Donald Trump on Thursday referred to new deportations as part of a “military operation”—a claim directly contradicted by the Department of Homeland Security. Speaking at the White House alongside manufacturing CEOs, the president said: “We’re getting really bad dudes out of this country. And at a rate nobody has ever seen before. And they’re the bad ones. And it’s a military operation.”
Earlier this week, the Department of Homeland Security issued new guidelines which pave the way for more deportations of undocumented immigrants. However the deportations will not be carried out by members of the military. Speaking in Mexico later Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly confirmed that there will be “no use of military force” and “no mass deportations.” He added: “Everything we do in DHS will be done legally and according to human rights and the legal justice system of the United States.”
