Trump directs immigration authorities to prioritize deportations in Democratic-run cities

Washington — President Trump on Sunday night directed federal immigration officials to prioritize deportations from Democratic-run cities, a move that comes after large protests erupted in Los Angeles and other major metropolitan areas against the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

In a Truth Social post, the president called on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials “to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.” He added that to reach the goal officials “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.”

“These, and other such Cities, are the core of the Democrat Power Center, where they use Illegal Aliens to expand their Voter Base, cheat in Elections, and grow the Welfare State, robbing good paying Jobs and Benefits from Hardworking American Citizens,” the president wrote. 

Mr. Trump’s declaration comes after weeks of increased enforcement, and after Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and main architect of the president’s immigration policies, said ICE officers would target at least 3,000 arrests a day, up from about 650 a day during the first five months of Mr. Trump’s second term.

At the same time, the Trump administration has directed ICE to halt arrests at farms, restaurants and hotels amid concerns that the president’s crackdown on illegal immigration is hurting key industries, two sources familiar with the abrupt policy change told CBS News. The pause on worksite immigration enforcement operations applies to the agricultural, hospitality and restaurant industries, which rely in large part on labor from immigrants, many of whom are in the U.S. unlawfully, the sources said, requesting anonymity to discuss internal actions. 

Mr. Trump posted on his Truth Social site Thursday that he heard from hotel, agriculture and leisure industries that his “very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them” and promised that changes would be made.

Opponents of the president’s immigration policies took to the streets as part of the “No Kings” demonstrations Saturday that came as Mr. Trump held a massive parade in Washington for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army. The parade featured tanks, flyovers and fireworks. 

Mr. Trump made the call for stepped up enforcement in Democratic-controlled cities on social media as he was making his way to the Group of Seven economic summit in Alberta, Canada. The first thing on Mr. Trump’s schedule Monday was a bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Mr. Trump met Carney at the White House last month. The rest of the day will consist of meetings with the G7 leaders, and the traditional “family photo” of those leaders and a cultural event.

Camilo Montoya-Galvez

contributed to this report.