Homeland Security reverses order on ICE raids of farms, hotels

(NewsNation) — Just days after President Trump's administration put a pause on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raiding farms and hotel workers, federal officials have reversed the decision.

The Department of Homeland Security says agents are targeting those specific workplaces once again for deportation efforts, according to a report. The decision comes as Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff and the architect of Trump's immigration policy, is pushing ICE to make 3,000 daily arrests in order to increase deportation numbers.

Last week, Trump said business owners in farming and hospitality were warning that immigration raids were taking away longtime workers. He hinted at changes to enforcement. That drew the attention of even his biggest supporters, like Meriweather Farms in Wyoming.

"Just wanted to reiterate — we only hire US citizens on our farm and in our meat packing plant," Meriweather Farms posted in part on X. "Most small operations like ours rely on family members, hire locals or, on the rare occasion, use legal and seasonal Visa programs. The recent order released by the Department of Homeland Security regarding ICE raids will only benefit the Big Packers and Big Ag, who exploit illegal labor."

Senior ICE official Tatum King wrote to regional leaders earlier this week to halt investigations into the agricultural industry, including meatpacking plants, and also restaurants and hotels, unless they involve serious offenses such as human trafficking, money laundering and drug smuggling.

King also told agents to avoid arresting “noncriminal collaterals,” or undocumented people who have not taken part in those illegal activities.

Along with the reversal of the raiding of farms and hotels, ICE has launched a massive expansion of detention space. The agency has added more than 10,000 new beds nationwide to hold migrants through fast-tracked federal contracts. Many of them were awarded without competitive bidding.

In addition, ICE has also reopened shuttered prisons in Leavenworth, Kansas; Newark, New Jersey; California City, California; and Dilley, Texas, bringing online over 10,000 new detention beds through fast-tracked federal contracts, many awarded without competitive bidding.

Back in December 2024, Tom Homan, now Trump's declared "border czar," said the administration would need at least 100,000 detention beds and a major increase in ICE agents to carry out the president's immigration crackdown. That plan is now taking shape, starting with one of the largest reopened facilities in Leavenworth, Kansas. The prison adds more than 1,000 beds and was previously described by a federal judge as "an absolute hellhole."

The new deal is worth over $4 million a month to CoreCivic, the company running the site.
Leavenworth has long been associated with incarceration — it's home to one of the country's most infamous federal prisons, which once held Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly

Just yesterday, the U.S. Border Patrol said it's taking the lead on deportation efforts from DHS in Los Angeles. Statistics showed the agency was averaging about 1,600 apprehensions per day, which in part led to the change.