The administration of US President Donald Trump has ordered a significant reduction in immigration raids in sectors such as agriculture, hotels, restaurants and meat processing. This was reported by "Reuters" citing internal correspondence, a senior administration official and a source familiar with the matter, writes News.bg.
The decision came personally from President Trump, who, according to the source, was not fully aware of the scale of the actions being carried out by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). After realizing the consequences, he ordered the "reins to be pulled" of the operation, which was launched at the insistence of his adviser Stephen Miller in late May.
The new guidelines, issued on Thursday, allow ICE to continue investigating serious crimes such as human trafficking, but call for a halt to mass checks in work zones with high concentrations of immigrants.
In a statement on the subject, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said:
"We will follow the president's direction and continue to remove the most dangerous illegal immigrants from the streets of America."
The decision comes amid growing pressure from the agricultural sector and the hospitality industry, which warn that mass deportations threaten to leave key industries and services without workers. Trump himself said on social media that businesses have expressed concern about losing "very good and long-time workers" and promised "imminent change".
The United Farm Workers union, however, remains skeptical that the new guidelines will ease the plight of undocumented workers. The organization says it has received reports of arrests since the new policy was announced:
"As Border Patrol and ICE continue to sweep through farming communities and make haphazard arrests, the hunt for farmworkers is not over," the union said in a statement.
Trump, who began his first term promising to deport millions of illegal immigrants, is now facing the reality of an economy heavily dependent on those same people.