By Felicia Schwartz and Robbie Whelan 
 

MEXICO CITY--U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said Thursday the U.S. won't use military force in immigration operations, even though President Donald Trump earlier in the day described U.S. efforts to enforce immigration laws as "a military operation."

Mr. Kelly spoke to reporters Thursday alongside Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Mexico's Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray and Mexico's Interior Minister Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong in Mexico City, where Mr. Trump sent the U.S. officials to explain the implementation of tougher U.S. immigration and deportation policies.

Mr. Kelly also said there would be "no mass deportations." He said both statements were intended to correct inaccurate reporting by journalists. Opponents of Mr. Trump's immigration policies often refer to expanded U.S. efforts in such terms.

Mr. Trump as recently as Thursday described immigration enforcement in military terms. Mr. Kelly offered a different view.

"There will be no use of military forces in immigration," Mr. Kelly said. "At least half of you try to get that right, because it routinely comes up in the reporting."

Messrs. Videgaray and Osorio said that they expressed Mexico's strong concerns about increased deportations from the U.S. as well as non-Mexicans being sent to Mexico to await deportation proceedings.

Mr. Videgaray called Thursday's meetings a good step but said differences still existed between the sides. Mr. Osorio said Mexico emphasized the importance of maintaining an "orderly" deportation process.

After the four high-ranking officials met and spoke to reporters, the Americans were due to meet with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. A senior Mexican official earlier warned Mr. Peña Nieto might scrap the meetings with Messrs. Kelly and Tillerson.

Write to Felicia Schwartz at felicia.schwartz@wsj.com and Robbie Whelan at robbie.whelan@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 23, 2017 15:13 ET (20:13 GMT)