Industry pressure forces Trump to halt immigration raids on farms, hotels, and eateries

The Trump administration has redirected its immigration enforcement strategy, instructing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to suspend most workplace raids and arrests in the agriculture, hospitality, and restaurant sectors, according to internal ICE emails and confirmation from three US officials cited by The New York Times.

The decision marks a significant change in President Trump’s mass deportation campaign, which has increasingly alarmed sectors vital to the US economy. The move comes after public protests in Los Angeles and growing concern from farmers and hotel owners over the loss of long-standing, hard-to-replace workers. Trump acknowledged this week that the immigration crackdown was adversely affecting American agriculture and the hospitality industry — two constituencies he has historically tried to support.

An internal email issued June 12 by senior ICE official Tatum King instructed Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) leaders to immediately halt all workplace enforcement operations involving agriculture (including aquaculture and meatpacking), restaurants, and operating hotels. However, the email clarified that operations targeting human trafficking, drug smuggling, and money laundering in these sectors could continue. Crucially, agents were explicitly told not to arrest “noncriminal collaterals”—undocumented individuals with no criminal records.

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the shift in policy. “We will follow the president’s direction and continue to work to get the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens off of America’s streets,” said DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.

While the administration initially pledged to prioritise deporting undocumented immigrants with criminal histories, recent weeks have seen a wider sweep of undocumented individuals in workplace raids. ICE had carried out operations at restaurants, factories, and other businesses across the US, with daily arrest numbers exceeding 2,000 after White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller called for at least 3,000 arrests per day.

Trump himself acknowledged the concerns on social media, noting that “our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business” were reporting losses of skilled, long-time workers due to immigration enforcement, with those jobs proving “almost impossible to replace.”

 According to a White House official, Trump’s post followed a briefing by Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, who relayed farmers’ complaints about the raids’ impact. The hospitality sector, which heavily relies on immigrant labour, is also one where Trump maintains personal business interests through his luxury hotels.

A former Trump administration official added that throughout Trump’s first term, GOP lawmakers from rural states had raised concerns about the crackdown’s impact on agriculture.

The newly issued ICE guidance leaves open the possibility of continued raids in other industries, such as the Los Angeles garment factory raid that triggered recent protests. A Homeland Security official acknowledged that ICE agents, under pressure to boost arrest figures, were caught off guard by the shift. Many are still awaiting clear direction from the White House on how to implement the new policy.

In his email, King acknowledged that the directive would limit ICE’s capacity to reach the numbers demanded by the administration. “We acknowledge that by taking this off the table, we are eliminating a significant number of potential targets,” he wrote.

By Tamilla Hasanova