Don: Military op! Aide: Nope

PRESIDENT TRUMP declared Thursday that his immigration clampdown was a “military operation” — although his homeland security secretary said the exact opposite just hours later.

The embarrassing White House mix-up was set in motion when Trump bragged about his expanded deportation policies during a meeting with top manufacturing CEOs.

“All of a sudden, we’re getting gang members out, we’re getting drug lords out of this country,” Trump said at a White House “listening session.”

“We’re getting really bad dudes out of this country at a rate no one has seen before,” he added. “And it’s a military operation.”

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly set the record straight just a few hours later in Mexico City, apparently unaware of Trump’s statements.

“Listen to this — no, repeat no, use of military force in immigrant operations,” Kelly said after meeting with Mexican officials.

“At least half of you try to get that right,” he told reporters, “because it continually comes up in the reporting,”

The mixed messages forced White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer into the now-familiar role of trying to clarify the President’s remarks.

Spicer, for his part, offered a perplexing defense of Trump’s characterization of deportation efforts as a military operation.

“The President was using that as an adjective,” Spicer said. “It’s happening with precision.”

The Trump administration sparked a backlash at home and abroad Tuesday when it released new guidelines that called for ramping up the deportation of undocumented immigrants — including those whose only crime was entering the country illegally.

The memo also calls for those who have crossed the border illegally to be sent back to Mexico, even if they are from other countries.

Kelly clarified the Trump administration’s new immigration enforcement policy in a joint appearance with Mexican officials.

“Let me be very, very clear — there will be no, repeat no, mass deportations,” Kelly said. “Everything we do in DHS will be done legally and according to human rights and the legal justice system of the United States.”

Kelly and Secretary of State Tillerson, after meeting with their Mexican counterparts, downplayed the tensions between the two nations regarding Trump’s immigration policies.

But Mexican officials were more outspoken in highlighting their negative feelings toward the new U.S. policies.

“Today we have taken a good step — but the differences between Mexico and the U.S. are still there,” said Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray.