Trump upends ‘mass deportation’ order, tells ICE to go easy on ‘heartland’

President Trump has issued new orders to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to give the “heartland” a break while concentrating on cities to carry out his demand for mass deportations.

He said the need to boot illegal immigrants is not as urgent in the heartland as it is in cities.

The president made the announcement Sunday night, and the White House promoted it, days after Mr. Trump said he would rescue American farmers. He said they are feeling the pinch of labor as illegal immigrants, who make up a significant share of farmworkers, fear going to work.

Mr. Trump said he is still committed to the “single largest mass deportation program in history,” but he laid out parameters for how he wants it to be handled.

“In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside,” he said on Truth Social. “And that is why I want ICE, Border Patrol, and our Great and Patriotic Law Enforcement Officers, to FOCUS on our crime ridden and deadly Inner Cities, and those places where Sanctuary Cities play such a big role. You don’t hear about Sanctuary Cities in our Heartland!”

Late last week, The New York Times reported that ICE had issued a directive pausing worksite enforcement on agriculture, restaurants and hotels.

The announcements were met with praise by some immigration groups but skepticism from others.

The American Business Immigration Coalition said the president had taken “decisive action to protect American farmers, restaurant owners and hotel operators.”

“President Trump emphasized the importance of removing violent criminals — not disrupting honest, hardworking communities,” the group said.

However, the United Farm Workers was skeptical.

“As long as Border Patrol and ICE are allowed to sweep through farm worker communities making chaotic arrests the way they did today, they are still hunting down farm workers,” UFW said after the ICE worksite memo was released.

Vanessa Cardenas, executive director of America’s Voice, said Mr. Trump’s announcement of the pause is a “telling admission” that illegal immigrants are central to the U.S. economy.

She said Republican members of Congress were feeling the heat from Mr. Trump’s deportation push and pressured the president.

However, she said that still leaves the migrants without full protection.

“Our country relies on immigrants — in key economic sectors and beyond — and the real reforms we need don’t look anything like the mass deportations in action,” she said.

Mr. Trump’s new directive highlights a tension in his immigration policy: His demand for “mass deportations” will be difficult to achieve if officers focus only on “criminals.”

That tension has existed since the campaign, when Trump officials sent mixed signals about who would be in line for deportations. The result was a general sense that ICE would primarily go after criminals but wouldn’t turn a blind eye to others encountered along the way, often referred to as “collateral arrests.”

ICE unshackled officers from onerous Biden administration rules about where and when arrests could be made.

The latest ICE data shows that, of the people ICE arrested and had in custody as of the start of the month, about 75% had criminal convictions or pending charges. That’s the vast majority, but it’s still a slide from the Biden administration, when that figure topped 90%.

The result, immigration advocates said, is that illegal immigrants have become afraid to go to work, their children are afraid to go to school, and families are avoiding religious services.

ICE has barely moved the needle on arrests.

The agency averaged 580 to 700 book-ins daily from mid-February to mid-May, topping 870 in late May.

That’s all well shy of the 3,000 needed daily to deport 1 million people yearly.

ICE officers are facing intense backlash, with assaults spiking more than 400%.

It’s not just migrants resisting arrest.

Federal prosecutors have brought charges in several cases where they said residents took matters into their own hands to try to thwart ICE arrests, including using their vehicles to try to box in the deportation officers.

Mr. Trump gave a vote of confidence to ICE officers Sunday.

“I want our Brave ICE Officers to know that REAL Americans are cheering you on every day,” he said.

“The American People want our Cities, Schools, and Communities to be SAFE and FREE from Illegal Alien Crime, Conflict, and Chaos. That’s why I have directed my entire Administration to put every resource possible behind this effort, and reverse the tide of Mass Destruction Migration that has turned once Idyllic Towns into scenes of Third World Dystopia,” he said.