Agents at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have been ordered to resume workplace raids at hotels, restaurants and farms after the Trump administration briefly paused such operations.
The reversal comes as ICE agents have been under tremendous pressure to meet a White House goal to arrest 3,000 migrants a day and comes on the heels of controversial raids in Los Angeles that sparked widespread protests.
“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,” Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary for public affairs, said in a statement.
“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.”
The White House over the weekend suspended the raids with President Trump backing the idea.
“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 Thursday.
“This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!” he added.
But Trump shifted his tune Tuesday morning, again blaming his predecessor while saying he planned to continue operations in large, often Democrat-led cities.
“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 [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 said.
