ICE Resumes Raids in Fields and Hotels Despite Trump’s Conciliatory Message

• ICE resumes workplace raids
• Trump had promised immigration exemptions
• Essential sectors are affected

The U.S. government has reactivated immigration raids in key sectors such as agriculture, hospitality, and restaurants.

Despite President Donald Trump suggesting the possibility of making exceptions for these sectors, the Department of Homeland Security has reversed a previous directive that had relaxed enforcement.

According to The Washington Post, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials instructed their agents to continue operations without considering the economic impact.

In an internal call, two sources confirmed that agents were explicitly ordered to maintain the arrests of undocumented workers on farms, in hotels, and in restaurants.

ICE Intensifies Raids in Key Sectors

This shift directly contradicts the message Trump shared the previous Thursday, after facing pressure from the business sector.

“Our great farmers and the folks in the hospitality and leisure businesses have been saying that our aggressive immigration policy is taking away very good workers they’ve had for a long time, and that those jobs are nearly impossible to fill,” Trump wrote on social media.

The president then hinted at a possible softening of his hardline stance: “Changes are coming.”

The statement came after Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins conveyed rising concerns from ranchers and tourism industry leaders.

According to The Washington Post, Rollins warned of the major economic blow that losing essential labor would cause.

Although a senior ICE official sent an internal email on Friday requesting a “pause” on operations in these sectors, the break was short-lived.

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Even on Monday, immigration authorities confirmed to NBC that raids would be temporarily halted.

However, those promises were short-lived.

ICE has resumed operations, generating outrage among immigrant rights advocates.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council directly blamed Stephen Miller for the policy reversal.

“Miller gets his way… farms, restaurants, and hotels are once again subject to ICE raids, with intense pressure on agents to hit 3,000 daily arrests,” Reichlin-Melnick posted on X.

The figure of 3,000 daily detentions highlights the hardening of the current administration’s immigration policy.

Despite Trump’s signals of openness, ICE’s actions reinforce a strategy of mass deportations that directly impacts vulnerable economic sectors.

Undocumented workers in essential roles—who were hailed as “heroes” during the pandemic—are once again the targets of enforcement.

This contradiction between words and actions has raised alarm in migrant communities and among legal advocates.

Civil organizations fear a new wave of fear, arbitrary detentions, and family separations in rural and tourist areas.

Meanwhile, the agricultural and hospitality sectors face the paradox of losing indispensable labor due to political decisions that prioritize arrests over economic stability.

Do you think immigration raids should exclude workers in essential sectors such as agriculture and hospitality? Why?

SOURCE: EFE