Homeland Security officials instructed agency leadership in a call Monday to resume raids at those businesses — which have higher proportions of illegal migrants in their workforce — following the days-long pause, according to the Washington Post and CNN.
President Trump posted on Truth Social Thursday that his mass deportation campaign was taking its toll on the agricultural and hospitality industries.
That same day, ICE agents across the country received an order to “please hold on all work site enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and operating hotels,” according to the New York Times.
“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 wrote.
“This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming,” he said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement supervisors were alerted to a possible reversal of the pause on Sunday after learning the White House didn’t support the effort, a source told the Washington Post.
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A major divide has reportedly formed within the Trump administration over the worksite raids.
“Severe disruptions to our food supply would harm Americans,” wrote Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on X Sunday. “It took us decades to get into this mess and we are prioritizing deportations in a way that will get us out.”
All the while, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has further pushed ICE to meet the 3,000 daily arrest quota the administration has set.
“[W]e must dramatically intensify arrest and removal operations nationwide,” she wrote in the letter, which was reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. “This is a nonnegotiable national priority.”
ICE agents will be judged “every day by how many arrests you, your teammates and your office are able to effectuate,” she wrote, adding, “Failure is not an option.”
She also said worksite sweeps are “a cornerstone” of the mass deportation push, adding, “There will be no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine ICE’s efforts.”
ICE agents will be judged “every day by how many arrests you, your teammates and your office are able to effectuate,” she wrote, adding, “Failure is not an option.”
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