The Latest: DHS chief says immigration officials follow law

LOS ANGELES – The Latest on immigration arrests in California that prompted protests (all times local):

7:10 p.m.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly is rejecting the term “roundup” for efforts to deport people in the country illegally.

Kelly, visiting the California-Mexico border on Friday, was asked whether the Trump administration has stepped up immigration enforcement.

He said authorities are simply executing the law.

Kelly didn’t specifically address reports by advocacy groups of widespread arrests in Southern California and elsewhere.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials did arrest about 160 people during a five-day sweep in Southern California aimed at immigrants with criminal histories and deportation orders.

But ICE officials say that sweep was long planned and routine.

___

1:43 p.m.

LOS ANGELES — Immigrant advocates are decrying a series of arrests that federal deportation agents say aimed to round up criminals in Southern California but they believe mark a shift in enforcement under the Trump administration.

Advocates said they fielded calls Thursday from immigrants and lawyers reporting raids at homes and businesses in greater Los Angeles.

Lawyer Karla Navarrete said Friday agents looking for one man arrested another who is in the country illegally but has no criminal record.

Navarrete says she sought to stop the man’s deportation and was told by ICE that things had changed. She says another lawyer filed federal court papers to halt it.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement says 160 people were arrested in the area in a five-day sweep targeting immigrants with criminal histories and deportation orders.