"No use of military force in immigration operations. None," Kelly stated. "We will approach this operation systematically, in an organized way, in a results-oriented way, in an operational way, in a human-dignity way. This is the way great militaries do business — the United States, Mexico, and many others."
Earlier in the day, Trump said in a meeting with a group of manufacturing CEOs at the White House that the removals would be a military operation, because most of the undocumented immigrants have criminal backgrounds.
In an executive action on January 27, Trump ordered the resumption of the 2008 Secure Communities program that relied on unprecedented information-sharing among local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to identify and deport immigrants with criminal records.
The Secure Communities program requires local and state police to hold detained individuals until federal officials can determine if they are in the United States illegally.
The Homeland Security Department ended the program in 2014 after a number of local and state agencies refused to comply with it, citing the high cost and detrimental impact it had on community relations.
