The Trump administration has told immigration agents to stop making arrests at farms, restaurants and hotels over concerns losing workers is hurting those industries, according to a report.
CBS News reported on the shift in policy for the industry that relies on migrant workers. Officials noted that many workers in those industries are in the U.S. without documentation, according to the report.
The decision comes as the Trump administration has increased efforts to make more arrests and prepare migrants for deportation. Scenes of Immigration, Customs and Enforcement agents detaining migrants in fields and car washes have dominated headlines for the past week.
The spike in ICE raids on migrants sparked protests in Los Angeles and other cities across America. Violence in protests has led the Trump administration to deploy the National Guard to California. Governor Gavin Newsom raged over the use of American troops in a city and the decisions sparked a series of legal challenges.
For now, Washington can continue to use military members to protect ICE agents and quell protests.
The ordered decrease in arrests at farms and hospitality workplaces shows the concerns that President Donald Trump’s deportation push will hurt business and the U.S. economy, according to the CBS report.
A source told the outlet that Trump was unaware of the scale of the ICE operation, leading to a shift in enforcement.
“When it hit him, he pulled it back,” the source told CBS.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security told CBS: “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.”
Earlier in the week, the president took to social media to discuss removing hospitality workers.
“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,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Roughly 40 percent of crop workers and 90 percent of meat processing and dairy workers are undocumented migrants, according to federal estimates.
Trump had talked about allowing migrants in hospitality fields to self-deport and then return as legal workers. But that was before the increase in ICE raids and arrests seen in recent weeks.
“So a farmer will come in with a letter concerning certain people, saying they’re great, they’re working hard,” Trump said at an April cabinet meeting. “We’re going to slow it down a little bit for them, and then we’re going to ultimately bring them back. They’ll go out. They’re going to come back as legal workers.”
Now, the Trump team is looking to slow ICE arrests in those fields.
Overall, more than 51,000 migrants are in ICE detention centers as of early June, according to NBC News. Less than 30 percent of those being held have criminal convictions.
