'It's illegal to knowingly hire illegal alien': Trump's border czar defends ICE farm raids; says there's 'right way to hire workers'
(Photo credit: AP)
US Border czar Tom Homan has doubled down on the renewed ICE raids targeting farms, hotels, and other workplaces, saying there is a 'right way and wrong way' to hire workers.
Speaking at the White House, Homan defended the enforcement actions, emphasising that 'First of all, there's a right way and wrong way to hire workers.
There are legal programs that bring farm workers in.
'
'Second of all, I've been saying for years, Congress needs to address this,' he added.
He stressed that inaction by lawmakers does not justify illegal hiring practices. 'Just because Congress failed, it just doesn't mean we ignore it. It's illegal to knowingly hire an illegal alien,' Homan said.
Homan made it clear that the Trump administration would proceed with worksite enforcement operations.
"The message is clear now that we're going to continue doing worksite enforcement operations, even on farms and hotels, but based on a prioritized basis,' he asserted.
'Criminals come first,' Homan noted.
The Trump administration has resumed a tougher approach to workplace immigration enforcement this week, restarting ICE raids at farms, hotels, and restaurants after a brief pause.
The return to aggressive action came after internal pushback from top officials, including senior adviser Stephen Miller, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and ICE enforcement head Tom Homan, highlighting the ongoing confusion around the policy.
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
2025 Top Trending local enterprise accounting software [Click Here]
Esseps
Learn More
Undo
The White House argues that undocumented workers lower wages and take jobs from American citizens. However, leaders in the farming and hospitality industries have warned that mass deportations could cause serious disruptions, as many of these workers perform essential roles that are difficult to fill with domestic labor.
Undocumented immigrants are a significant part of the workforce across multiple sectors, including hospitality, agriculture, construction, and manufacturing.
They are found nationwide — from blue states like California and New Jersey to red states like Texas, Florida, and Nevada, which have some of the largest populations of unauthorized workers. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, an estimated 14 million undocumented immigrants were living in the US as of 2024.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India Today
10 minutes ago
- India Today
Kerala mountaineer stuck at Alaska peak rescued, back safe at base camp
Shaikh Hasan Khan, a mountaineer from Kerala who was stranded on Mount Denali in Alaska due to a severe snowstorm, has been rescued and is now safe at the base camp. Congress MP Anto Antony confirmed the development, stating that Khan is doing also reportedly spoke with his family after his safe return. Khan, a Government Secretariat employee and an experienced climber who previously scaled Mount Everest, had been attempting to hoist the Indian flag atop North America's highest peak as a tribute to the Indian Army's Operation extreme weather conditions left him unable to descend, forcing him to send out distress messages seeking urgent rescue. His last known communication was on June 10, when he informed his family of a critical shortage of food and water. The same day, Khan posted a video on Instagram from Talkateena, Alaska, showing a Climber's Memorial at a cemetery for mountaineers who lost their lives at Denali, also known as Mount silence that followed sparked a flurry of diplomatic and political efforts. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking immediate intervention and urging the Indian Embassy in the United States to act MP Shashi Tharoor also stepped in, calling Khan a 'heroic young explorer' in a post on X. In a letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Tharoor included Khan's passport and satellite contact information to expedite coordination with US authorities. 'This young Indian, whose pursuits have brought quiet distinction to our country, now finds himself in a precarious and life-threatening situation,' Tharoor IN THIS STORY#Kerala
News18
14 minutes ago
- News18
Indian-American Professor Blames Reservation For Air India Plane Crash, Draws Netizens' Ire
Last Updated: Sharing a recruitment notice of the AAI for the post of Air Traffic Control, Dr Rajeshwari Iyer, argued that in India, safety is not as important as "freeloaders". An Indian-American professor has triggered a controversy on social media after she blamed country's reservation policies for the Air India's London bound AI 171 flight crash, which resulted in the deaths of over 270 people. Sharing a recruitment notice of the Airports Authority of India for the post of Air Traffic Control, the Indian-origin professor, Dr Rajeshwari Iyer, argued that in India, safety is not as important as 'freeloaders". She posted the job announcement ad and said, 'Even the post of 'Air Traffic Controller' has reservations. Means: In India, freeloaders are more important than safety." Iyer also said, 'Including Indian citizens, we lose many British citizens too. 241 died in a plane crash. What a pathetic system. Her post, which came a day after the tragic incident, ignited a heated debate on social media. While many netizens supported her, others slammed her for alleged caste prejudice and for leveraging a national disaster to promote ideological views. Some also pointed out how Indian-origin people in the US are jumping to conclusions about the crash. 'The crash happened due to malfunctions in Boeing Dreamliner which is manufactured by USA company due to loss of thrust. There is no fault of crew. So chill a bit before farming," one wrote, reacting to Dr Iyer's reservation post. Another person wrote, 'Firstly, it's too early to conclude anything. Also, desperately wish where one day such brilliant migrants and naturalised citizens of other 'first world' nations (whether through parents or self) like yourself, fix the flaws of this young Indian democracy and work towards ensuring that it comes out of years of colonial and outdated ideas and depredations." India witnessed one of its worst aviation tragedies on Thursday after a London-bound Air India plane, carrying 242 passengers and crew, including former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, crashed into a medical college complex shortly after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport. 241 out of 242 passengers and crew members on board the Boeing 787-8 (AI 171) and another 29 persons, including five MBBS students, on the ground were killed in the crash. The aircraft was under the command of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal with First Officer Clive Kunder. Two senior cabin crew members have been identified as Shradha Dhavan and Aparna Mahadik. The other cabin crew members were Saineeta Chakravarti, Nganthoi Kongbrailatpam Sharma, Deepak Pathak, Maithili Patil, Irfan Shaikh, Lamnunthem Singson, Roshni Songhare Rajendra, and Manisha Thapa. One person survived the tragedy. The lone survivor was identified as Indian-origin British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh who was returning to the UK with his brother Ajay Kumar Rakesh, 45, who was in a different row inside the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. Meanwhile, 211 victims have been identified so far through DNA matching, while 189 bodies are handed over to their families. Authorities are carrying out DNA tests to establish the identity of the victims as many bodies were charred beyond recognition or severely damaged. The aircraft had 232 passengers and 10 crew members, including 169 Indians, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese and a Canadian, on board. First Published: June 20, 2025, 18:11 IST
NDTV
14 minutes ago
- NDTV
Netanyahu's Other Battle: Swinging Trump And US Behind Iran War
Since launching air strikes on Iran last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been working to pull President Donald Trump into the war and sway a sceptical American public. In his daily calls and public statements, Israel's longest-serving prime minister has mixed praise and deference for the US leader, while also arguing that the strikes on Iran benefit Americans. "Do you want these people to have nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them to you?" he asked during an interview on Fox News last Sunday. "Today, it's Tel Aviv. Tomorrow, it's New York," he told ABC News a day later, arguing that Iran was working on longer-range missiles that would be able to reach US shores in the future. His media blitz came after intensive and not always harmonious exchanges between Netanyahu and Trump this year, with the Israeli leader welcomed twice to the White House since the Republicans' return to power in January. The New York Times, citing unnamed US administration sources, reported Tuesday that Netanyahu had asked Trump for US-made bunker-busting bombs capable of reaching Iran's underground Iranian nuclear facilities in an April meeting -- but had been refused. Having been elected in opposition to US entanglements overseas and supposed "war-mongers" in the Democratic party, Trump was seen as reluctant to commit Washington to another unpopular war in the Middle East. Much of his right-wing Make America Great Again (MAGA) coalition is staunchly anti-interventionist, including Vice President JD Vance, his head of national intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard, and influential media figures such as Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson. But speaking Wednesday, the former tycoon stated clearly that he was considering joining the Israeli campaign directly, raising the possibility of the bunker-busting GBU-57 bombs being deployed against Iran's main underground uranium stockpile facility in Fordo. "I may do it, I may not do it," Trump told reporters at the White House when asked if he had decided on US air strikes. His final decision will come "within the next two weeks", he said Thursday. Influence Yossi Mekelberg, a Middle East expert at the London-based Chatham House think-tank, said Netanyahu had been clever in his dealings with Trump, appealing to his "vanity" with charm as well "using his weaknesses". Once he had received an "amber light" in private from the US leader to launch the attacks last Friday, "he knew Trump's personality and knew that Trump might come on board if there was a chance of claiming glory in some way or claiming some sort of credit," he told AFP. Trump has openly praised the success of the Israeli military campaign which has combined targeted assassinations of key military personnel, destruction of Iran's air defences and repeated strikes on nuclear sites. Eliot A. Cohen, a veteran former US State Department advisor and international relations expert at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, cautioned against overstating Netanyahu's personal influence, however. "I suspect this is much less about Netanyahu's influence than Trump's own view of the Iranian nuclear programme, his memory of the assassination plot against him in 2024 by Iranian agents and the success of the initial Israeli operations," he told AFP. An Iranian man has been charged in connection with an alleged plot to kill Trump before his election last November. Cohen said Netanyahu's lobbying could succeed for several reasons. "They are not asking for anything other than the bombing of Fordo," he said, referring to the deeply buried underground uranium enrichment facility. "Nobody is talking about an invasion or anything like that." "Many if not most Americans understand that a nuclear Iran is particularly dangerous, and that the regime is deeply hostile to the US," he added. Public Opinion A poll by the survey group YouGov for The Economist magazine conducted last weekend found half of Americans viewed Iran as an "enemy" and another quarter said it was "unfriendly." But it found that only 16 percent of Americans "think the US military should get involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran". It found that majorities of Democrats (65 percent), independents (61 percent) and Republicans (53 percent) opposed military intervention. Speaking on his War Room podcast Wednesday, former Trump strategist Bannon seethed that Netanyahu had "lectured" America and started a war he couldn't end on his own. "Quit coming to us to finish it," he said.
