ICE walks back limits on raids targeting farms, restaurants and hotels
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. immigration officials have walked back limits on enforcement targeting farms, restaurants, hotels and food processing plants just days after putting restrictions in place, two former officials familiar with the matter said, an abrupt shift that followed contradictory public statements by President Donald Trump.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement leadership told field office heads during a call on Monday that it would roll back a directive issued last week that largely paused raids on the businesses, the former officials said, requesting anonymity to discuss the new guidance.
ICE officials were told a daily quota to make 3,000 arrests per day - 10 times the average last year during former President Joe Biden's administration - would remain in effect, the former officials said. ICE field office heads had raised concerns they could not meet the quota without raids at the businesses that had been exempted, one of the sources said.
It was not clear why last week's directive was reversed. Some ICE officials left the call confused, and it appeared they would still need to tread carefully with raids on the previously exempted businesses, the former officials said.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said ICE would continue to make arrests at worksites but did not respond to questions about the new guidance.
"There will be no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine ICE's efforts," she said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Washington Post first reported the reversal.
Trump took office in January aiming to deport record numbers of immigrants in the U.S. illegally. ICE doubled the pace of arrests under Trump compared with last year but still remains far below what would be needed to deport millions of people.
Top White House aide Stephen Miller ordered ICE in late May to dramatically increase arrests to 3,000 per day, leading to intensified raids that prominently targeted some businesses.
Trump said in a Truth Social post on Thursday that farms and hotel businesses had been suffering from the ramped up enforcement but also said, without evidence or explanation, that criminals were trying to fill those jobs.
ICE issued guidance that day pausing most immigration enforcement at agricultural, hospitality and food processing businesses. But in another Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump called on ICE to target the Democratic strongholds of Los Angeles, Chicago and New York and to use the full extent of their authority to increase deportations.
A White House official said Trump was keeping a promise to deliver the country's single largest mass deportation program.
"Anyone present in the United States illegally is at risk of deportation," the White House official said.
Deborah Fleischaker, who held senior roles at both DHS and ICE during Biden's presidency, said the shifting ICE guidance reflects broader turmoil at the agency since Trump took office. The White House has ousted multiple ICE leaders as it pressed for more arrests.
"It has been chaos and confusion since the beginning," she said.
FARMERS PUSH BACK
The intensified ICE enforcement after Miller's late May order renewed long-running concerns among farmers about ICE operations targeting their workforce. Nearly half the nation's approximately 2 million farm workers lack legal status, according to the departments of Labor and Agriculture, as do many dairy and meatpacking workers.
Farm industry fears escalated last week when ICE detentions and arrests of workers were reported at California farms, a Nebraska meatpacking plant and a New Mexico dairy.
Livestock and restaurant sector representatives said on a press call organized by the American Business Immigration Coalition on Tuesday that raids make operations more difficult in their heavily immigrant-dependent industries.
"The people pushing for these raids that target farms and feedyards and dairies have no idea how farms operate," said Matt Teagarden, CEO of the Kansas Livestock Association.
Michael Marsh, CEO of the National Council of Agricultural Employers, said farm groups had not had enough input into the administration's decision-making so far on immigration enforcement in agriculture.
Marsh said he had not received responses from Agricultural Secretary Brooke Rollins, Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem and other officials to a letter sent last week requesting a meeting.
"We've got a serious issue if we have almost a million of our workers that are going to be subject to deportation," he said. "Because if that's the case, and they are picked up and they are gone, we can't fill those positions."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
a few seconds ago
- Fox News
Trump's giving DC a 'facelift,' says Jesse Watters
Fox News host Jesse Watters gives his take on the Trump administration's federal takeover of Washington, D.C., on 'Jesse Watters Primetime.'
CNN
a few seconds ago
- CNN
Rubio doubles down on Trump pledge to back Ukraine security guarantees but says Europe must lead
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told European counterparts Thursday the US will participate in post-war security guarantees for Ukraine but that the Trump administration believes Europe should take the lead, according to a European diplomat familiar with the call. During a call with European national security advisers, Rubio, who is also President Donald Trump's acting national security adviser, did not provide details on specific security guarantees to which the US might commit, the diplomat said. But the call, which an administration official confirmed had occurred, adds momentum at a critical time when Europe is eager for continued engagement from the Trump administration, the diplomat said. As Trump has pushed for Ukraine and Russia to reach a peace agreement, negotiations among allies over how to ensure Moscow won't attack again in the future have accelerated. The US has indicated it is open to playing a limited role in providing security guarantees to Ukraine if a peace deal is reached with Russia, which could potentially see US pilots flying manned air support missions, sources familiar with discussions with allies this week told CNN. Trump has ruled out deploying US troops on the ground, but the US and its allies are combing through a range of other options, the sources said. The Europeans have told US officials that one role they'd like to see the US play is continuing to provide military intelligence and surveillance, said the European diplomat familiar with Rubio's call on Thursday. The official added that the issue was raised to Trump directly on Monday, when several European leaders visited the White House, and the president appeared receptive but did not make an explicit commitment. Thursday's call included national security advisers from NATO, the European Union, France, the UK, Finland, Italy and Germany, they said. A meeting took place on Wednesday between US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, commander of US European Command and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, and defense chiefs from key European nations. A broader NATO defense chiefs meeting was also held Wednesday, led by Chair of the NATO Military Committee, Adm. Giuseppe Cavo Dragone. The military meetings followed discussions at the White House on Monday between Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and several other key European allies. During the meetings, Trump said the US would be involved in Ukraine's security — but made clear that Europe would be the 'first line of defense.' An official familiar with Wednesday's meetings said the declaration of US involvement 'changed everything' for the planning around Ukraine's security guarantees. Military planners from the 'Coalition of the Willing' — a key group of Ukrainian allies — had already been discussing security for Ukraine, but those discussions 'had only been able to get so far, because a big unknown to them was, what was the US position?' the official said. Still, the official said allies 'recognize certainly that despite the US' involvement, which they acknowledge is still yet to be determined in concrete terms, they have an inherent responsibility for the security of Europe.' The meetings on Wednesday came in the wake of multiple significant developments in the war between Ukraine and Russia, after Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska last week and then hosted Zelensky and several other key European leaders at the White House on Monday. The topic of security guarantees for Ukraine was at the center of the meetings on Monday, as Trump said the details would be further worked out with European leaders. Sitting next to Zelensky in the Oval Office, Trump said while Europe would be the first line of defense for Ukraine, 'We're going to help them out also. We'll be involved.' And while he initially left the door open on putting US boots on the ground in Ukraine, he ruled it out the following day during a phone interview with Fox News but suggested the US might consider providing air support. Thus far, that has been the only thing definitively ruled out, the official familiar with Wednesday's meetings told CNN. The options discussed among military leaders and planners this week ranged from US air support — unmanned and manned aircraft — to what countries are willing to put boots on the ground in Ukraine, what NATO bases would be used, and more. A second source briefed on the meeting also said possible air support has been a primary topic, and that while there is some consternation within the Trump administration about committing US pilots to flying manned air support missions over Ukraine, there is more openness to flying unmanned air support missions. US pilots could also be called upon to conduct surveillance flights over Ukraine, providing high-resolution imagery of the front line and troop movements, as part of what would be considered an intermediate option that stops short of committing American fighter jets to fly policing missions, two of the sources familiar with ongoing discussions about security guarantees said. Ben Jensen, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told CNN that even unmanned aircraft missions would be a significant step because it could 'keep the question of doubt in Russia's mind about how much the US will commit.' But unmanned drones are too slow to conduct what are known as 'scramble' missions, a third source familiar with the discussions noted, meaning it would likely fall to other nations to provide additional air assets if that is as far as the US is willing to go. The official familiar with the Wednesday meetings told CNN that some have incorrectly assumed that Trump's comments saying the US would not put boots on the ground in Ukraine also definitively mean there won't be US pilots flying overhead. 'And what I would say is, well, the president didn't say that,' they said. Zelensky said Wednesday that Kyiv expects to have an understanding within the next two weeks of exactly what kind of security guarantees allies are prepared to provide in the event of a peace deal. Thirty countries have pledged willingness to provide security guarantees, he said, but not all of those commitments will be military aid. Some countries have committed to just financial support or imposing economic sanctions on Moscow in the event of another Russian attack, Zelensky said. 'We do not know how many countries are ready for 'boots on the ground,'' Zelensky told journalists at a briefing. 'Some may contribute boots on the ground. Some are ready to provide air defense. Some will cover the skies or conduct aerial patrols for a certain period, using the appropriate aircraft in the required numbers.' Zelensky said that Trump saying the US would participate in security guarantees reassured other countries who had previously been on the fence. He pointed to Turkey as a country that's now on board to help with security on the Black Sea. 'Without the coordination of security guarantees for Ukraine by the United States of America, there was some uncertainty among our European colleagues,' Zelensky said. Some allies have already messaged what they intend to provide. The UK, France and Germany said in a joint statement on Wednesday that they are prepared to plan an active role, including deploying a 'reassurance force' once fighting has stopped. UK Defense Secretary John Healey said again Wednesday that the UK is ready to put boots on the ground in Ukraine. But while US officials have claimed that their Russian counterparts signaled their willingness to accept security guarantees for Ukraine during Trump's meeting with Putin in Alaska last week, Moscow has since publicly dismissed any security guarantees that Russia wouldn't also have a veto over – a condition that would be unacceptable to Kyiv. 'Moscow won't agree with collective security guarantees negotiated without Russia,' Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday, adding that Moscow would also want ally China to be part of the security agreement. 'I am confident that in the West — first and foremost in the United States — they perfectly understand that discussing the issue of security without the Russian Federation is a utopia, a road to nowhere,' Lavrov added.
Fox News
17 minutes ago
- Fox News
Rubio pauses worker visas for truck drivers after deadly Florida crash involving illegal immigrant kills 3
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday said "effective immediately" he would pause the issuance of worker visas for commercial drivers after an illegal immigrant truck driver allegedly caused a crash that killed three people in Florida. In a post on X, Rubio cited public safety for the move. "The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers," he wrote. Concerns about foreign workers driving commercial trucks began after Harjinder Singh, 28, who entered the U.S. illegally, was driving a commercial truck with a trailer on the Florida Turnpike in Fort Pierce when he allegedly attempted a U-turn in an unauthorized area. The turn resulted in the trailer jackknifing and colliding with a minivan, which left all three of the minivan's passengers dead, authorities said. Further scrutiny of Singh revealed that he didn't pass English and road tests before obtaining a commercial driver's license. He was granted a full-term commercial driver's license in Washington in July 2023, despite not being legally eligible. He was also given a limited-term commercial driver's license in California in 2024. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and officials with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have been in a heated war of words with the Trump administration over Singh. This week, Newsom's press office said on X that Singh obtained a work permit during President Donald Trump's first term. Tricia McLaughlin, the DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, responded, saying Singh was denied in September 2020, under Trump, but was granted one in June 2021, under the Biden administration. Singh has been extradited to Florida from California to face three counts of vehicular homicide.
