News in brief:
– US President Donald Trump has paused immigration raids on farms, restaurants, and hotels after warnings that the crackdown was scaring off essential undocumented workers and threatening food production.
– Despite the directive, reports of continued enforcement in farming areas have sparked confusion and fear, highlighting the tension between strict immigration policies and labour demands in key industries.
The President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, has ordered a pause on immigration raids targeting farms, restaurants, and hotels following a wave of alarm from agricultural leaders and key political allies.
The decision came after Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins warned that stepped-up enforcement was scaring off undocumented workers and threatening to paralyse food production in critical farming regions.
“Farmers rely on immigrants to work long hours,” Ms. Rollins reportedly told him. She added that farm groups had been warning her that their employees would stop showing up to work out of fear.
About 40% of the US crop workers have no legal immigration status, according to an estimate by the Agriculture Department.
The move marks a rare policy reversal for the president, who has vowed to launch the largest deportation campaign in US history.
In a message posted to his Truth Social platform, Trump softened his rhetoric, praising immigrants in agriculture and hospitality as “very good, long-time workers” and promising changes ahead.
The shift drew support from some donors and Republican lawmakers who feared the crackdown would damage the food supply chain and alienate a crucial voter base. Some have begun lobbying for the restaurant sector to be included in any directive to spare undocumented workers from enforcement as well.
A senior official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Tatum King, sent a message to the agency’s regional heads to stop all work site enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and operating hotels.
However, confusion and fear persist. Despite new instructions to pause worksite raids in these industries, advocacy groups say immigration agents are still operating in farming regions like Oxnard, California.
Some workers have reportedly been detained in the fields, prompting farm closures and panic among immigrant families. Critics argue the updated guidance does not go far enough, warning that the mere presence of agents continues to intimidate essential labourers.
The situation underscores the complex tensions between Trump’s hardline immigration stance and the economic realities of labour-intensive US industries.
