Trump softens tough migration policy

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have been instructed to largely suspend raids and arrests at farms, hotels, and restaurants. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the new directive.

Investigations related to human trafficking, money laundering, and drug smuggling in these industries are still "in order," the newspaper states. However, "non-criminal escorts" should be spared from arrest. According to the NYT, the email was sent by senior ICE official Tatum King to the immigration authorities' regional offices.

Trump had indicated a change of course

In the metropolis of Los Angeles – home to a particularly high number of undocumented immigrants – protests have been going on for about a week against Trump's tough immigration policy and against immigration enforcement officers who were arresting immigrants without legal residency status with the intention of deporting them. Trump's order to mobilize thousands of National Guard troops and deploy hundreds of Marines to California is highly controversial. During his election campaign, the Republican promised the largest deportation program in American history.

On Thursday, the president then struck a surprisingly self-critical note. "Our great farmers and people in the hospitality and leisure sector have stated that our very aggressive immigration policies are taking away very good, long-term workers," Trump wrote on the online platform Truth Social. They are not citizens, but have proven themselves to be "great," he explained to reporters. You can't take the farmers' workers and send them back just because they lack something they possibly should have—that is, papers.

Ministry confirms directive

A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, confirmed the New York Times' investigation. "We will follow the president's directive and continue working to remove the worst of the worst criminal aliens from America's streets," she told the newspaper.