Despite President Trump suggesting he would ease up soon when it comes to deporting farm and hospitality workers, no plans appear to be in place.
Officials inside the White House refuted the notion on Friday that changes in their current approach to deportations were being made after the president suggested as much on Thursday when speaking to the press in the Oval Office.
Mr. Trump’s border czar Tom Homan told the Washington Post that he has not had any discussions with the president about new protections and that he has not taken any part in developing a new policy.
“I have not seen any instruction, anything that changes in the near future,” Homan said.
One unnamed official told The Washington Post that there would be “no change” and that there was no “carveout” in place for farm and hotel workers who are in the country illegally. The official added that the administration had previously told ICE officers to avoid conducting raids on farms, but as deportations efforts were escalated this week enforcement activity was reported at two farms.
On Tuesday, ICE agents were filmed chasing farm workers through a field in Oxnard, Calif.
Workers had expressed their apprehension showing up for work out of fear that ICE agents could arrive at any minute.
“What I fear is that sometimes out of necessity, it forces us to show up wherever there’s work,” a farmworker at the scene told ABC7 Los Angeles. “Because of everything that is happening, it is a bit difficult for us.”
According to a USDA estimate, nearly 40 percent of the U.S. agricultural workforce is comprised of undocumented workers lacking proper work authorization.
Trump’s agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, is in favor of changes to the current system.
“We have to fix the broken system. We have to make sure our workforce is legal and is here legally, but the president understands that we can’t feed our nation or the world without that labor force,” Ms. Rollins said on Thursday in an interview with CNBC. “And he’s listening to the farmers on that, which I really appreciate.”
On Thursday, Mr. Trump said he would issue an order in the near future that would address the effects of his immigration crackdown on farming and the hotel industries.
“Our farmers are being hurt badly and we’re going to have to do something about that…We’re going to have an order on that pretty soon, I think,” Mr. Trump said.
He echoed his sentiment later on social media saying that “changes are coming” with new protections for farming and hospitality workers.
“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,” he said on Truth Social. “In many cases the Criminals allowed into our Country by the VERY Stupid Biden Open Borders Policy are applying for those jobs. This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!”
Recent polling numbers from a Quinnipiac poll this week show Mr. Trump’s favorability is slumping on several key issues, including immigration — a potential reason for a change of heart from the president.
“This is definitely one of Trump’s worst polls. Just horrible across the board. Net approval -16 pts. Oof,” CNN’s Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten said on X.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
