Trump, in reversal, may exempt farms and hotels from immigration raids

President Donald Trump said on social media Thursday that he is willing to exempt the agriculture and hotel industries from his nationwide immigration crackdown. The surprise move came after executives in both industries complained to Trump about losing reliable, longtime immigrant workers in immigration raids and struggling to replace them.
'Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace,' Trump wrote.
'In many cases the Criminals allowed into our Country by the VERY Stupid Biden Open Borders Policy are applying for those jobs," he added. "This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!'
The New York Times reported the next day that a senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official had ordered a pause in immigration raids at agricultural businesses, meat packing plants, restaurants and hotels.
The senior ICE official also advised agents to stop arresting undocumented people who are not known to have committed crimes. Agents were told to continue to investigate and detain undocumented people with criminal backgrounds, according to the Times.
In response to a question from NBC News about Trump's pause, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin did not dispute it. 'We will follow the president's direction and continue to work to get the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens off of America's streets," she said in a statement.
Trump faces a political crossroads. Immigration raids in Los Angeles sparked days of violent protests there and helped fuel sweeping anti-Trump protests nationwide Saturday.
At the same time, Trump repeatedly promised his supporters during the 2024 campaign that he would deport a million people a year, the largest mass deportations in U.S. history.
To meet that goal, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller demanded last month that ICE arrest at least 3,000 undocumented people a day.
Three former DHS officials told NBC News that ICE officials will have to significantly increase raids of large workplaces nationwide to meet those goals. The sites include farms, meatpacking plants, hotels and restaurants — the industries Trump appears to have exempted.
A former ICE official said that only raids on 'construction, dairy [and] meat processing facilities, carpet mills' would result in the large number of detentions Miller has demanded. 'It's these low-wage jobs, that is where you get the numbers,' the former official said.
During the 2024 campaign and since he returned to office, Trump has dismissed warnings from experts that such large-scale deportations would lead to worker shortages in the industries he is apparently exempting now.
But groups that support his crackdown expect him to keep his promise.
'They should be going after them,' said Ira Mehlman, a spokesperson for Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that supports a crackdown on undocumented workers. 'I don't think there is going to be a huge swath of the country that will be upset if they bust these companies, if they are employing illegal immigrants and passing on the cost to everyone else.'
For years, slaughterhouses have been one of the industries best known for relying on newly arrived immigrant labor, in part because of the difficult and dangerous nature of the work. And many slaughterhouses are in red states scattered throughout the Midwest and the Southeast. Texas alone has almost 500 meat and food processing plants, according to Agriculture Department data.
ICE agents last week raided a locally owned slaughterhouse in Omaha, Nebraska, and arrested at least 80 undocumented workers, according to local officials. Chad Hartmann, a spokesperson for Glenn Valley Foods, said in a statement that federal agents searched the company's facility 'for persons believed to be using fraudulent documents to gain employment.' He said that the company strives to operate within the law, that it is cooperating with agents and that it 'is not being charged with any crime.'
But so far ICE has not consistently targeted large slaughterhouses around the country.
Since Trump took office in January, ICE's workplace enforcement raids appear to have largely targeted smaller businesses, such as a roofer in Bellingham, Washington; a Mexican restaurant in Harlingen, Texas; and a small equipment manufacturer in South Dakota. One of the largest workplace raids to date — which yielded more than 100 arrests — was at a construction site in Tallahassee overseen by a privately owned Florida-based construction company.
Larry Stine, an employment attorney who represents some of the largest meatpacking plants in the Southeast, says his clients are 'terrified' of a possible raid and have been actively auditing their employees' paperwork.
Trump did not mention an exemption for the construction industry, which also employs large numbers of immigrant workers. So far, though, the construction industry has experienced relatively few ICE raids, industry officials said.
Brian Turmail, vice president of public affairs for the Associated General Contractors of America, said that to date, he is aware of only sporadic reports of construction site raids, such as one in Tallahassee on May 29 when more than 100 allegedly undocumented people were detained.
The contractors' association continues to prepare members for how to respond if the pace of enforcement actions increases. 'We've been reposting compliance information now that it's a bit more real,' Turmail said.
Turmail said he remains confident that Trump is sensitive to the needs of the construction industry, whose decadeslong workforce shortage has only grown more acute in recent years. It's one reason construction costs have been surging, he said, which, in turn, has resulted in construction spending's declining year on year for the first time since 2019.
'Between higher labor and higher material costs, it's putting developers on the sidelines because projects don't pencil out anymore,' Turmail said.
Members of the contractors' association remain hopeful that the administration's promises to reorient more of the workforce toward vocational skills will turn into federal spending to do so.
Turmail predicted that worker shortages will persist and most likely worsen if the immigration crackdown continues. One way the administration could help address them, he said, would be to create ways for construction workers to enter the country legally.
'Even if we got all the funding we wanted, we'd still need to also find some temporary lawful pathways for people to come in and work in construction,' he said.
Democrats say Trump's campaign promises of millions of mass deportations are hitting economic realities. John Sandweg, who was ICE director during the Obama administration, said that to maintain its 3,000 arrests per day quota, the Trump administration would have to raid factories owned by large corporations. 'No doubt some Fortune 500 will get hit,' he said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

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She didn't know yet known an assassin was on the loose. Then, police arrived with a warning

Crime Gun violence Congressional newsFacebookTweetLink Follow The congresswoman was enjoying a quiet morning at home in the Minneapolis suburbs last Saturday when her doorbell rang. It was around 6 a.m., Kelly Morrison recalled. Far too early for visitors. But as she padded to the front door, Morrison noticed a police car in her driveway. 'Sorry to bother you so early,' the officers said, 'but we need you to know that there's a man going around impersonating a law enforcement officer, and we need you to stay in your house, shelter in place, and do not answer the door to anyone.' Stunned, Morrison asked for more details, she recalled to CNN. But the officers simply told her: 'There have been some concerning events' and they'd be patrolling her street 'more closely.' Morrison locked her front door and tried to go back to her quiet morning alone at home, she said. But her eyes kept drifting to the street. She did not yet know a fierce manhunt was underway for a gunman who, just hours earlier, had gravely injured a state senator and his wife at their nearby home, then assassinated another state lawmaker, Melissa Hortman, and her husband in theirs. Morrison also did not yet have a critical piece of information that would upend not only her quiet weekend but also her perception of life as a public servant and the state of America's democracy: Her name was on the gunman's alleged hit list, too. The attacks had begun just after 2 that morning when a man carrying a handgun and wearing the tactical vest and body armor of a police officer pounded on state Sen. John Hoffman's windowless, double-bolted front door. 'He arrived in a Black SUV with emergency lights turned on and with a license plate that read 'Police,'' Joseph Thompson, the acting US attorney for Minnesota, would later tell reporters. 'Sen. Hoffman had a security camera; I've seen the footage … and it is chilling,' he'd add. Authorities soon identified Vance Boelter, 57, as the man masquerading as a police officer and described in chilling detail how he 'stalked his victims like prey.' After wounding Hoffman and his wife, Boelter visited two other lawmakers' nearby homes, court documents later would assert: One was out of town; the other's life may have been spared by the timely intervention of a local police officer. Boelter then went to Hortman's home, killing her and her husband, Mark, authorities would posit, before firing at police and vanishing into a moonlit night. Investigators in what became the largest manhunt in Minnesota history soon found among Boelter's belongings apparent hit lists naming dozens more potential targets, most of them Democrats or figures with ties to the abortion rights movement, including Planned Parenthood, court documents would say. On a conference call later that morning with Democratic lawmakers, Morrison learned the tragic truth of what had happened to the Hoffmans and the Hortmans – her friends and colleagues – and prompted her early morning visit from local police. It wasn't long before the Minnesota Department of Public Safety also let her know she, too, was among those targeted. As an OB-GYN who had volunteered for Planned Parenthood, Morrison had been targeted with threats of violence in the past, she said. Still, this was 'unnerving, particularly when we lost Melissa and Mark in such a shocking and violent way.' The congresswoman immediately called her husband, John Willoughby, who was out of town, to tell him about the shootings. And that she could be a target. The former Army Ranger 'moved into protective mode,' Morrison recalled, and began making his way home. Even with local officers already stationed outside their house, the couple hired private security, she said. And Morrison put on the panic button Capitol Police previously had recommended she buy. Across town, another state House official, Rep. Esther Agbaje, was glued to her phone as texts and emails poured in with updates on the manhunt. She left her home and spent the day with her fiancé and his mom, she recalled to CNN. She was lying low, she told her friends and family, in an abundance of caution. Meanwhile, Morrison and her husband considered what to tell their grown children. 'There's all these different moments as a parent where you question what the right thing to do is,' the congresswoman recalled, 'but we knew we had to let them know.' Their daughters, traveling in Minnesota, wanted to come home; their son, who was out of state, stayed in constant contact. Then, Morrison made another call: to her own parents. 'I had been pretty calm,' she said, 'but when I heard my mom's voice, I definitely kind of lost it.' By Saturday evening, the tenor of Agbaje's weekend also had shifted – from mindful public servant attuned to the latest safety alerts to an unwitting role far closer than she'd imagined to the frightening storyline deeply underway. 'For most of the day,' the state representative said, 'I didn't know that I was a potential target.' Then, she, too, learned her name was on Boelter's list. Sunday arrived with no outward signs Boelter soon would be caught. And Agbaje had grown so distracted, she forgot it was Father's Day. 'I forgot to call my own Dad until, like, the middle of the afternoon,' she told CNN. 'I have a really good Dad. He was concerned about how I was doing.' Officers had warned Morrison it would be dangerous for her to go ahead with plans to celebrate the holiday with relatives. 'I FaceTime'd with my dad and my brother to wish them a happy Father's Day,' she said, 'and tell them how much I love them and how grateful I am for them.' Morrison and Agbaje also spent hours across the weekend reassuring their constituents as word of the attacks spread and reiterating a common message in the face of what seemed to be the latest wave in a rising tide of political violence afflicting the United States. We can't go on this way. 'This was the moment where I kind of feel like everything has changed in the United States,' Morrison said. 'This happened in my district, and these are my people. We have to decide together that this is not the path that we want to go down as a country.' But even fortified resolve could not quell the fear of lawmakers whom the suspected assassin had called out by name. On Sunday evening, the fact remained: Boelter was still on the run. Not, though, for much longer. Some 43 hours after the gunman barged through the Hoffmans' red front door, Boelter crawled out of a forest near his own home, about an hour's drive away. He was arrested and faces six federal charges, including two that could carry the death penalty, and four state charges, including two counts of second-degree murder. But for Morrison and Agbaje – along with untold others on the hit lists and people across Minneapolis and beyond – the conclusion of the police chase has yielded to another pursuit, one perhaps less riveting but, if possible, more heart-wrenching. 'I think now that the acuteness of the manhunt and the trauma from the weekend is subsiding, we're just (feeling) real grief and sitting with the loss,' Agbaje said. After decades of increasingly toxic political rhetoric and the dehumanization of lawmakers, many Americans have lost sight of our shared humanity, she continued. 'For those of us who want to keep this democracy, we have to remember that we solve our disagreements through discussion and debate; we can't devolve to guns and violence.' Though Hoffman has a long path to recovery, Agbaje looks forward to the day she again will work alongside the fierce advocate for health equity, especially for those with disabilities, she said. 'He's really funny,' Agbaje said, then paused, recognizing this kind of violence can change a person. 'I'm sure it'll be different, but I'm glad that he'll still be around,' she said of Hoffman. 'Whether you agree or disagree with them on policy issues, (lawmakers are) real people. They have families, they have people who care about them. At some point, we have to remember the humanity in each other.' Morrison and her colleagues gathered privately Wednesday night, she said, to mourn and honor Hortman, a public servant who dedicated herself and her career to the state and the people she loved. 'I think she'll go down as the most consequential speaker of the House in Minnesota's history,' Morrison said. 'It was never about Melissa; it was always about the work … the end goal was always to make life better for Minnesotans.' 'It's just hard to put into words what a devastating loss this is for our entire state.' The attacks of just a week ago fell exactly eight years after a gunman opened fire on lawmakers as they practiced for a congressional charity baseball game and critically wounded Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, a Republican now leading the House majority. Morrison worries about the chilling effect political violence could have on future public servants, she said. But even so soon after facing her own imminent threat, Morrison is far from scared. 'I think it's important for people to remember that this is not just an attack on those individual legislators; this is an attack on democracy itself. It's an attack on Americans' ability to be represented well,' she said. 'I am not afraid of cowards like this man, and I would encourage people, if you've ever thought of running for office, to please continue pursuing it.'

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As many as nine out of 10 retirees rely on their Social Security income to cover some portion of their expenses. Estimates for Social Security's 2026 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) are climbing, and President Trump's tariff and trade policy looks to be the culprit. Though an above-average COLA for a fifth-consecutive year would be welcome on paper, retirees continue to get the short end of the stick when it comes to annual raises. The $23,760 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook › Last month, Social Security's retired-worker benefit made history, with the average payout topping $2,000 for the first time since the program's inception. Although this represents a modest monthly benefit, it's nevertheless proved vital to helping aging workers cover their expenses. In each of the prior 23 years, pollster Gallup surveyed retirees about their reliance on the Social Security income they're receiving. Between 80% and 90% of respondents noted it was a "major" or "minor" income source. In other words, only around one in 10 retirees could, in theory, make do without their Social Security check. For an overwhelming majority of Social Security beneficiaries, nothing is more important than knowing precisely how much they'll receive each month -- and that begins with the program's annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), which is announced during the second week of October. This year's COLA announcement will be of particular interest, with President Donald Trump's tariff and trade policies expected to directly affect how much Social Security beneficiaries will receive per month in 2026. But before digging into the specifics of how President Trump's policies are expected to impact the pocketbooks of seniors, survivors, and workers with disabilities, it's important to understand the building blocks of what Social Security's COLA is and why it matters. The program's COLA is effectively the "raise" passed along on a near-annual basis that accounts for the impact of inflation (rising prices) on benefits. For example, if a large basket of goods and services increased in cost by 3% from one year to the next, Social Security benefits would need to climb by a commensurate amount, or buying power for Social Security recipients would decrease. In the 35 years following the issuance of the first retired-worker check in January 1940, COLAs were assigned at random by special sessions of Congress. Only a total of 11 COLAs were passed along during this timeline, with no adjustments made in the 1940s. Beginning in 1975, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) was adopted as Social Security's inflationary measure that would allow for annual cost-of-living adjustments. The CPI-W has over 200 spending categories, each of which has its own unique percentage weighting. 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A historic increase in U.S. money supply during the COVID-19 pandemic sent the prevailing rate of inflation soaring to a four-decade high. This resulted in COLAs of 5.9% in 2022, 8.7% in 2023, 3.2% in 2024, and 2.5% in 2025, respectively. For context, the average annual increase in benefits since 2010 is 2.3%. While estimates for Social Security's 2026 cost-of-living adjustment came in below this average shortly after President Donald Trump took office for his nonconsecutive second term, the script has now been flipped. Nonpartisan senior advocacy group The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) was forecasting a 2.2% COLA for 2026 as recently as March. Meanwhile, independent Social Security and Medicare policy analyst Mary Johnson, who retired from TSCL last year, was calling for a 2.2% increase in April following the release of the March inflation report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). 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Though a lot can change with Trump's tariff and trade policy in the coming weeks and months, its current design points to a modest bump in the 2026 COLA. On paper, a fifth consecutive year where COLAs are above average (compared to the previous 16 years) probably sounds great. With the average retired-worker payout cresting $2,000 per month, an added $50 per month would be welcome in 2026. But the fact of the matter is that a 0.3% bump in COLA estimates since Trump introduced his tariff and trade policy doesn't remotely move the needle when it comes to what retirees have been shortchanged for more than a decade. Though the CPI-W is designed to be an all-encompassing measure of inflation, it has an inherent flaw that can be seen in its full name. Specifically, it tracks the spending habits of "urban wage earners and clerical workers," who, in many instances, are working-age Americans not currently receiving a Social Security benefit. Urban wage earners and clerical workers spend their money very differently than seniors. Whereas the former has a higher percentage of their monthly budgets devoted to things like education, apparel, and transportation, seniors spend a higher percentage on shelter and medical care services. Even though an overwhelming majority of Social Security beneficiaries are aged 62 and above, the CPI-W doesn't factor in this added importance of shelter and medical care services inflation. The end result for retirees has been a persistent decline in the buying power of a Social Security dollar. According to a study conducted by TSCL, the purchasing power of a Social Security dollar has dropped by 20% since 2010. A very modest "Trump bump" isn't going to offset this. What's more, the aforementioned two costs that matter most to retirees -- shelter and medical care services -- have had higher trailing-12-month (TTM) inflation rates than the annually issued Social Security COLA. The BLS inflation report for May showed TTM increases of 3.9% for shelter and 3% for medical care services, respectively. As long as the program's cost-of-living adjustment trails the annual inflation rate for these two key expenses, retirees will continue getting the short end of the stick. If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. One easy trick could pay you as much as $23,760 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. Join Stock Advisor to learn more about these Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Social Security's 2026 Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Estimate Is Getting a "Trump Bump" -- Here's How Much Extra You Might Receive was originally published by The Motley Fool

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