After a short pause, raids at hotels, restaurants and farms by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents can resume.
“During a morning field call on Monday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials told leaders representing field offices across the country that they must continue to conduct raids at worksite locations, the source said — a reversal from guidance issued days earlier under pressure from certain industries that rely on migrant workers,” CNN reported Tuesday.
President Donald Trump shifted gears this week, saying the administration will continue operations to deport those in the country illegally, focusing on Democrat-led cities that give them sanctuary and defy federal law.
“We’re going to look everywhere, but I think the biggest problem is the inner cities. We’re looking everywhere. What they let into this country. What [former President] Biden let in or allowed to, I don’t think he knew what the hell he was doing, frankly, but whoever worked for him, but what they let into this country, we’re never going to forget it,” he told reporters upon his return from the G7 summit in Canada.
The raids were suspended over the weekend and Trump had seemed to agree that the “aggressive” immigration policies were “not good” for the hotel, restaurants and farm industries.
“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,” he wrote last week. “This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!”
“The president has been incredibly clear. There will be no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine ICE’s efforts,” said Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary for public affairs, in a statement on Tuesday.
“Worksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of our efforts to safe guard public safety, national security and economic stability. These operations target illegal employment networks that undermine American workers, destabilize labor markets and expose critical infrastructure to exploitation,” she added.
