Trump flip-flops again on mass deportation raids targeting farms and hotels
Published in Political News
President Trump has flip-flopped again on mass deportation by ordering the resumption of raids targeting work sites in the agriculture and hospitality industries, just days after officials halted them under pressure from big business.
Trump’s Department of Homeland Security reversed the brief pause in raids on farms, meatpacking plants and hotels that was implemented last week after the president vowed to make “big changes” in his mass deportation push to spare those industries that employ millions of undocumented immigrants.
“There will be no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine ICE’s efforts,” said Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS spokeswoman, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The head-spinning changes reflect the big divisions within Trump’s political coalition and his administration over his stated goal to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, including the army of low-wage workers who are mainstays of American farms, food-processing plants, hotels and restaurants, among other essential industries.
Warring interest groups and advisers, like big business and right-wing populists, are battling for Trump’s ear on immigration. He has lurched between contradictory positions like at times saying he wants to deport anyone who came to the U.S. without proper documentation while at other times suggesting that he is only interested in snaring violent criminals or gang members.
Trump first blinked last week by conceding that his “very aggressive” raids were hurting farmers and hotels, a statement that came after pleas for a reprieve from Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.
He vowed “big changes,” and a top ICE official told staff in an internal email Friday to end arrests in the agricultural, hotel and restaurant industries.
But immigration hard-liners, led by the powerful White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, pushed back over the weekend, and won the latest policy swing back toward a no-holds-barred approach.
Miller has set a target of 3,000 ICE arrests a day, a number officials say is almost impossible to achieve without widespread roundups of workers on farms, and at meat processing plants and hotels.
The workplace raids are opposed by employers, many of whom are Republicans, because they result in worker shortages, raise costs and hinder production. Despite Trump’s fierce rhetoric, business groups say it’s impossible to hire enough Americans or legal immigrants to fill those jobs.
The raids triggered last week’s protests on the streets of Los Angeles, which later spread to other cities nationwide.
Trump ordered in both the National Guard and Marines, but California Gov. Gavin Newsom has said the troops aren’t wanted or needed. Their dispute is pending in federal court.
The tumult has since quieted and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has reduced the hours of an overnight curfew after police made no arrests related to the protests Monday.
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