Trump vows changes to immigration crackdown to protect migrant farmers, hotel workers
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Trump planning to 'protect' farm, hotel workers amid deportations
President Donald Trump says his administration is planning to reverse course on deportations of migrant farm and hospitality workers.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said he plans to make changes to his administration's aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration to protect migrant farmers, hotel workers and others in the leisure industry who have been among those deported.
Trump promised the changes in a June 12 Truth Social post that acknowledged Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have expanded arrests beyond just migrants convicted of violent crimes, who Trump officials have said are the primary targets of raids and deportations.
"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," Trump wrote on the social media platform he owns.
More: How a Massachusetts town became a flashpoint for Trump's immigration crackdown
He added that in many cases "Criminals allowed into our Country by the VERY Stupid Biden Open Borders Policy" are applying for these jobs.
"This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!" Trump said.
The president did not specify what changes could be in store to address worker shortages caused by his immigration crackdown. Critics of Trump's mass-deportation agenda have long said migrants ‒ who tend to provide cheap labor by working for low wages ‒ are an essential part of the country's agriculture workforce.
About 42% of farm workers in the United States between 2020 and 2022 lacked legal status, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
"Our farmers are being hurt badly," Trump said during an event in the White House East Room when asked about his position. "You know, they have very good workers. They've worked for them for 20 years. They're not citizens, but they've turned out to be, you know, great."
Trump said he plans to sign an executive order to address the situation, adding that it will take a "common sense" approach. "We can't take farmers, take all their people and send them back because they don't have maybe what they're supposed to have, maybe not," Trump said.
The White House has defended deportations of non-violent migrants who are in the United States unlawfully, arguing their presence in the country is grounds for being deported.
Democrats seized on Trump's new posture. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Washington, in a post on X, wrote: "Step 1: Trump creates a problem Step 2: Blames it on Joe Biden, who isn't even president Step 3: Posts a rant about his solution — which doesn't actually offer a solution."
Jayapal added: "Yes, our country and economy rely on immigrants. How is he just figuring that out?"
More: For the first time in decades, the US-Mexico border is silent. Here's why
The Trump family's company, the Trump Organization, has a history of relying on labor from undocumented immigrants to staff Trump-owned hotels, the Washington Post reported in 2019, citing accounts from 48 former and current Trump workers. The migrants included hotel housekeepers, groundskeepers, waiters and stonemasons.
In recent weeks, ICE has dramatically expanded its deportation efforts after the White House demanded the agency increase its arrests of migrants in the country illegally, Reuters reported. Daily quotas have increased from 1,000 arrests per day to 3,000.
More: As ICE touts arrests, chaotic scenes emerge amid immigration crackdown
The shift has produced chaotic scenes across the country. Immigration authorities, wearing bulletproof vests and other tactical gear, recently raided a popular San Diego Italian restaurant.
ABC News published a video on June 11 showing ICE agents chasing down a farmer worker in a field in Ventura County, California, outside of Los Angeles, where Trump this week deployed National Guard troops to counter protests opposing the deportations.
More: Travel bans, visa crackdowns and deportations: What to know as Trump bars the door
Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, said in late May that the administration had deported around 200,000 people over four months ‒ a total that lags behind the deportations during a similar period under former President Joe Biden. The White House has said the discrepancy is the result of fewer migrants coming to the border.
Migrants seeking to cross the U.S.-Mexico border have dropped significantly during Trump's first five months of his second term. Border Patrol agents have seen their monthly encounters of migrant and asylum seeks drop to fewer than 10,000, down from more than 100,000 one year ago.
Contributing: Reuters
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
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