Following a tumultuous week of protests across Los Angeles and other major metropolitan areas, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been directed to stop targeting nonviolent immigrants working in the agriculture and hospitality sectors. It signifies a marked shift in the Trump administration’s immigration policies, which galvanized nationwide demonstrations.
According to The New York Times, Tatum King, a senior ICE official, sent an email Thursday, June 12, to his regional counterparts who operate under Homeland Security Investigations and are tasked with work site enforcement. “Effective today, please hold on all work site enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and operating hotels,” King’s message read.
King clarified in his email that if a business operating within these sectors is being used to launder money or support human trafficking, drug smuggling, or other illicit activities, it is okay to target them. However, agents were told not to arrest “noncriminal collaterals,” or those who are residing in the country illegally and working at a business but otherwise have no criminal record.
The Department of Homeland Security later confirmed the guidance to the Times. In a statement, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said, “We will follow the president’s direction and continue to work to get the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens off of America’s streets.”
King’s email and McLaughlin’s confirmation came shortly after President Donald Trump conceded in a Truth Social post that his hardline immigration policies are impacting industries that rely on migrant laborers.
“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, adding, “We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!”
The new guidance also comes after a week of protests in Los Angeles and other cities that were kicked off by ICE operations at work sites, including Home Depot and a garment factory. Within a few days, those operations had extended to a meat processing plant in Omaha, Nebraska, and agriculture fields in Oxnard, California.
Those expanded operations were meant to achieve higher numbers of daily migrant arrests, as outlined by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. However, in his email, King said that without arresting migrants who have no criminal record, the numbers would be affected.
“We acknowledge that by taking this off the table, that we are eliminating a significant # of potential targets,” King wrote.