Texas Border Business
Texas Border Business
President Donald Trump has recently indicated that he is considering exempting undocumented immigrants working in agriculture, hospitality, and related sectors from upcoming mass deportation efforts, according to multiple reports from June 15 and 16, 2025.
According to Reuters, Trump said he is evaluating the impact of his immigration enforcement policies on “very good, long-time workers” in the farming and hotel industries. In a Truth Social post on June 15, he acknowledged that changes could be coming to how deportation efforts are handled in those sectors. He stated that the current approach may hurt key American industries and added, “We’re not looking to hurt our people and businesses.”
This sentiment follows earlier comments made on June 12, when Trump told reporters he was considering issuing an order “pretty soon” to prevent economic damage to the agricultural and hospitality sectors. According to Reuters, he stated, “Our farmers are being hurt badly and we’re going to have to do something about that … hotels sector too.”
According to Axios, internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) communications show that workplace raids targeting undocumented immigrants in industries such as farms, hotels, restaurants, and meatpacking have already been paused. These shifts occurred under Trump’s direction in response to pressure from business leaders who warned of labor shortages if enforcement remained aggressive in those areas.
On June 16, Trump reiterated his plans to expand deportations in major Democratic-run cities, while suggesting that enforcement against undocumented laborers in essential industries was being temporarily held back. According to Reuters and the Financial Times, this approach reflects a dual-track strategy: pursuing high-profile deportations in urban areas while pausing actions in economically sensitive sectors.
- According to The Guardian and The Daily Beast, Tatum King is a senior ICE official who issued email guidance to regional ICE leaders instructing them to “hold on all worksite enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture…restaurants and operating hotels” unless linked to criminal activity.
- Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin stated that the department “will follow the President’s direction” and focus on removing the “worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens,” while pausing non-criminal workplace actions.
- Unnamed DHS or ICE insiders, quoted by CBS News and Reuters, confirmed that enforcement pauses were taking effect and that the pause resulted from internal reactions and directives, citing industry pressures and White House intervention.
These sources—named officials and anonymous well-placed insiders—are the foundation for the statement that implementation of the policy shift is already underway within ICE, even though no executive order has yet been signed.
