Trump Shifts Deportation Focus, Pausing Most Raids on Farms, Hotels and Eateries
The abrupt pivot on an issue at the heart of Mr. Trump’s presidency suggested his broad immigration crackdown was hurting industries and constituencies he does not want to lose.
By Hamed Aleaziz and Zolan Kanno-Youngs, The New York Times, Updated June 14, 2025
The Trump administration has abruptly shifted the focus of its mass deportation campaign, telling Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to largely pause raids and arrests in the agricultural industry, hotels and restaurants, according to an internal email and three U.S. officials with knowledge of the guidance.
The decision suggested that the scale of President Trump’s mass deportation campaign — an issue that is at the heart of his presidency — is hurting industries and constituencies that he does not want to lose…
“Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace,” Trump said on social media…
“Effective today, please hold on all work site enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and operating hotels,” a senior ICE official, Tatum King, wrote in the message.
The email explained that investigations involving “human trafficking, money laundering, drug smuggling into these industries are OK.” But it said — crucially — that agents were not to make arrests of “noncriminal collaterals,” a reference to people who are undocumented but who are not known to have committed any crime…
In recent weeks, Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, has publicly pushed for a “minimum” of 3,000 arrests per day… [end quote]
The program of arresting and deporting thousands of illegal immigrants who are essential workers in economically-critical sectors like agriculture and services could potentially have a destructive impact on the economy while also increasing inflation.
This pivot may avert at least part of the damage. The next step would be telling ICE agents to stop targeting Home Depot where temporary construction workers congregate for hire. Many construction workers are immigrants and removing them will worsen the housing problem.
Wendy
