Trump officials reverse pause in ICE raids targeting farm, service workers

A seasonal migrant worker carries fruit in Michigan.
(Photo via The Conversation, CC)

In an abrupt about-face from last week's guidance that paused Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids on farms, restaurants and meatpacking facilities, Trump officials reissued their call for ICE to enter any business where undocumented migrant workers might be found.

"Officials from ICE, including its Homeland Security Investigations division, told agency leaders in a call Monday that agents must continue conducting immigration raids at agricultural businesses, hotels and restaurants," report Carol D. Leonnig, Natalie Allison, Marianne LeVine, and Lauren Kaori Gurley of The Washington Post.

The see-sawing instructions reflect the tough reality of supporting American farmers and service workers all the while pushing ICE to arrest thousands of undocumented workers a day. Leonnig writes, "Some immigration experts say ICE would need to ramp up worksite enforcement to meet the administration’s ambitious arrest quotas. Past raids at meatpacking plants, for instance, have led to hundreds of arrests at once."

Even among President Trump's officials, the two sides pull against each other. "White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said last month that the administration wants ICE to make a minimum of 3,000 arrests a day," the Post reports. "Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, meanwhile was on the opposite side of the issue, stressing to Trump the concerns that those in the farming industry had raised about losing workers."

On Sunday evening, Trump pulled away from his farming and service worker exemption stance and "made a post on his Truth Social account that he said amounted to an order for ICE officials 'to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History,'" Leonnig adds, "which he said would require them to 'expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities.'"

On Monday, Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary for DHS, told reporters, “There will be no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine ICE’s effort. Worksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of our efforts to safeguard public safety, national security and economic stability.”

Trump pauses raids on farms, service businesses, but many sweeps continue

Strawberry pickers in Plant City, FL. (Adobe Stock photo)

Some immigrants who have continued work at farms, restaurants, hotels and meatpacking plants have been swept up during Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, report Ted Hesson and Marisa Taylor of Reuters. A senior Trump official familiar with the situation said President Donald Trump "was not aware of the extent of the enforcement push and 'once it hit him, he pulled it back.'"

"Trump's administration has directed immigration officials to largely pause raids," Hesson and Taylor write. "The order to scale back came from Trump himself … and appears to rein in a late-May demand by top White House aide Stephen Miller for more aggressive sweeps."

Last week's instructions limiting raids "still allows for investigations into serious crimes such as human trafficking," Reuters reports. Democrats called on the White House to pull back on ICE's "aggressive tactics. … Some Republican lawmakers have called on the administration to focus on criminal offenders."

Most American agriculture, including dairy and farm animal care, is supported by migrant workers. Hesson and Taylor add, "U.S. farm industry groups have long wanted Trump to spare their sector from mass deportations, which could upend a food supply chain dependent on immigrants."

The United Farm Workers union remains "skeptical the new directive will help workers without legal status," Reuters reports. "The group said it had calls from members about immigration arrests even after the new directive was issued."

On Friday, UFW issued a stern response to Trump's Thursday order to pause farm raids: "Many companies stayed closed today due to the presence of roving federal agents, especially Border Patrol. … As long as Border Patrol and ICE are allowed to sweep through farm worker communities making chaotic arrests … they are still hunting down farm workers."