Trump Orders Immigration Crackdown in Democrat-Led Cities Amid Nationwide Protests

President Donald Trump on Sunday ordered federal immigration officials to prioritize deportations in cities governed by Democrats, following large-scale protests in Los Angeles and other major cities against his administration’s immigration policies.

In a social media post, Trump urged officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "to do everything possible to achieve the very important goal of carrying out the largest mass deportation program in history."

He added that, to reach that objective, agents "must expand efforts to detain and deport illegal aliens in the largest cities in the United States, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where millions and millions of illegal aliens reside."

Trump's statement came after weeks of intensifying immigration raids, and following comments by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller—also the chief architect of Trump’s immigration agenda—who said ICE agents aimed to conduct at least 3,000 arrests per day, compared to approximately 650 daily during the first five months of Trump’s second term.

At the same time, his administration has reportedly instructed immigration authorities to pause arrests at farms, restaurants, and hotels, after Trump expressed concern about the impact of federal immigration measures on those industries, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Protests against the federal immigration raids have been erupting across the country.

Opponents of Trump’s immigration policy took to the streets on Saturday in demonstrations dubbed “No Kings,” which coincided with a massive parade in Washington, D.C., marking the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.

Saturday’s protests were largely peaceful.

However, police in Los Angeles used tear gas and crowd-control munitions to disperse demonstrators once the event concluded.

Authorities in Portland, Oregon, also deployed tear gas and projectiles late into the night to break up crowds protesting outside an ICE facility.

Trump issued his call to intensify immigration raids while en route to the Group of Seven (G7) economic summit in Alberta, Canada.

Speaking to reporters as he departed the White House for the G7 on Sunday night, the president said his decision to deploy National Guard troops to Los Angeles was the reason protests there remained peaceful.

"If we didn’t have the National Guard on alert and ready, they would have torn Los Angeles apart," Trump asserted.

The policy shift also comes as Trump grapples with the fallout of his mass deportation efforts on key industries that rely on undocumented workers.

On Thursday, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he had heard from leaders in the hotel, agricultural, and leisure sectors that his "very aggressive immigration policy is taking away very good and experienced workers," and pledged that changes would be made.

That same day, Tatum King, an official with ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division, sent a directive to regional leaders instructing them to halt investigations into the agricultural industry—including meatpacking facilities—as well as restaurants and hotels, according to the U.S. official.