The Department of Homeland Security is resuming operations at farms, hotels and restaurants after a brief reprieve over the weekend.
Pressure from industry groups seemed to break the hardline immigration enforcement when President Donald Trump posted over the weekend on Truth social "Changes are coming!" He referred to the workers on farms and at hotels as "good, long time workers" that were "almost impossible to replace."
Monday, DHS reversed that course.
Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Scripps News in an email:
"Worksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of our efforts to safe guard public safety, national security and economic stability. These operations target illegal employment networks that undermine American workers, destabilize labor markets and expose critical infrastructure to exploitation."
"We were really glad to see the administration realize that these workers are essential and these businesses, these American businesses, need workers and our economy needs these workers. But we are also now hearing that they have decided to overturn that pause and so we're of course concerned," said Jennie Murray, President and CEO of the National Immigration Forum.
Murray said the number of unauthorized workers in agriculture, hospitality and restaurants nationwide is more than 2 million, making up a significant portion of the workforce. Further changes to immigration policy like revoking temporary protective statuses, could move another million workers from the "lawful" to "unlawful" category.
"And then if you start to add on the other constrictions with the travel ban, the international student restriction and also tariffs, you start see a really bleak outlook for the American economy and American businesses," Murray said.
According to the American Immigration Council mass deportations could reduce the U.S. GDP by as much as 6.8%.
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Muzaffar Chishti, Senior fellow at the nonpartisan Migrant Policy Institute, said the agricultural industry to holds a "unique" position in American politics under any administration.
"They can speak to it from both sides of their mouth sometimes, but the fact that they have disproportionate interest in immigration and also have disproportion influence, both in Congress and the administration," Chishti said. "That's why agriculture is unique in sort of the anatomy of our immigration policy, and that's becoming evident again in this administration."
Chishti said the apparent reversal of immigration enforcement priorities signals a divide in the president's base – one side protecting economic interests and the other calling for hardline enforcement regardless of the economic impacts.
Economic impacts are likely to include the cost of food, leisure activities and construction costs.
"I think in some parts of the economy, both the economic and the social costs are going to be evident quite soon," said Chishti.
Murray and Chishti both said the social costs are already apparent. Many unauthorized workers are long-time members of communities or related to US citizens. Personal anecdotes are being shared widely in the media, online and to lawmakers.
Murray said a poll from the National Immigration Forum found that 79% of self-identified conservatives, Republicans and Evangelicals want authorities to focus on criminals not workers.
"When you have to pick 3,000 people a day as a target, you have to have a very wide net. And so therefore all kinds of businesses were targeted in the last few weeks," said Chishti.
