Mexico City, Feb 24: In a bid to ease tensions with their neighbours, US officials have promised that no mass deportation of Mexicans will take place once the new deportation law comes into force from next week. 

The announcement came during a working visit of American diplomats to Mexico amid fears of Mexico hinting at closer ties with China in the face of aggressive US policies in the new Trump era. 

The reassurances came on Thursday night during a joint press conference by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly, following their meeting with Mexico's Foreign Affairs Minister Luis Videgaray and Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong here. The Secretary stated that, "Let me be very very clear, there will be no, repeat no mass deportation. Everything at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will be done legally and according to human rights system in the US."
 President Donald Trump's vow to crack down on undocumented migrants has struck fear into immigrants living in the US.
 
 
Mexican officials are concerned that massive deportation could lead to a humanitarian crisis along the border. While there will be "no use of military force" in deportation proceedings, "we will approach this operation systematically, in a results-oriented way, in an operational way, and in a human dignity way", said the retired Marine Corps general.
 
Earlier, Trump had described the deportation campaign as "a military operation". Tillerson said the two countries "reiterated our joint commitment to maintaining law and order along our shared border by stopping the potential terrorist and dismantling the transnational criminal networks moving drugs and people into the US".
 
The US Secretary of State said officials also discussed trade and energy ties, in addition to fighting cross-border crime, but gave no details. "We agreed that our two countries should seize the opportunity to modernise and strengthen our trade and energy relationship," he said. Tillerson noted crime went both ways across the border.
 
"Similarly we underscored the importance of stopping the illegal firearms and bulk cash that is originating in the US and flowing into Mexico. There's no mistaking that the rule of law matters on both sides of the border," he said.

Mexico and the US are already at odds over Trump's plan to build a wall along their border and his attempts to pressurise Mexico into giving concessions on trade. The US President wanted to renegotiate a two-decade-old agreement signed by Mexico, the US and Canada, claiming it had unfairly benefited Mexico at the expense of US workers.