Trump immigration policies targeting Democratic cities energize
organizers, leave others confused
[June 17, 2025]
By SOPHIA TAREEN and DORANY PINEDA
CHICAGO (AP) — To Jose Abel Garcia, a Guatemalan immigrant in the Los
Angeles area, President Donald Trump’s latest promise to expand
deportations in Democratic-led cities doesn’t change much.
The 38-year-old garment worker said Trump’s doubling down on Democratic
strongholds while pausing immigration arrests at restaurants, hotels and
farms doesn’t spare workers who are simply trying to make rent.
“He just talks,” Garcia said. “The raids keep happening and it’s going
to be hard for him to follow through on that because he isn’t acting
alone.”
In recent days Trump has vowed to shift immigration enforcement away
from political allies and toward political foes, prioritizing
deportations in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and cities at “the core
of the Democrat Power Center.” At the same time, he’s reversed course
and paused arrests in industries that heavily rely on a foreign-born
workforce.
Garcia and other immigrants say, either way, fears remain high in their
communities, while experts note the Trump administration's pullback on
work site immigration enforcement is a lesson other administrations
learned long ago. Meanwhile, Democrats and activists insist Trump’s
moves are calculated and something they’ll use as a rallying cry.
Escalating political fight
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has been locked in a widening dispute
with the Trump administration, said the motivation behind singling out
Democratic cities is clear.
“Incite violence and chaos in blue states, have an excuse to militarize
our cities, demonize his opponents, keep breaking the law and
consolidate power,” Newsom posted Monday on X. “It’s illegal and we will
not let it stand.”
Trump again fixed on New York and Chicago on Monday while pointing to
Los Angeles demonstrations against his administration policies, and
adding many of “those people weren’t from LA, they were from
California.”
“I want to focus on the cities,” he said at the Group of Seven Summit in
Canada.
The Trump administration has said U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement officers would target at least3,000 arrests daily, up from
about 650 daily during the first months of Trump’s second term. Already,
the president and his allies have targeted so-called “sanctuary
jurisdictions” with splashy live-streamed arrests, lawsuits and
summoning mayors and governors to testify at the Capitol.
“It’s clear that Trump is escalating these attacks on Democratic cities
because he’s threatened by the mass mobilizations,” said U.S. Rep. Jesus
“Chuy” Garcia, a Chicago Democrat. “I expect Democrats will push back
harder.”
In the Los Angeles area, a group of advocates continued community-led
patrols to watch for ICE arrests and warn neighbors.
Organizer Francisco “Chavo” Romero said they're also patrolling Metro
rail stations and other public transit hubs.
“They double down, we triple down,” he said.
Worksite arrests
Pulling back on worksite enforcement is new for Trump, but not in recent
history.
Going after employers on immigration compliance has been a controversial
issue, particularly in industries that rely on immigrant labor. For
instance, nearly half of those in meatpacking are thought to be born
abroad.
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Jose Abel Garcia, a Guatemalan immigrant, comments on President
Donald Trump's latest promise to expand deportations in
Democratic-led cities Monday, June 16, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP
Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Under a 1996 immigration law, the Clinton administration
investigated hiring practices to weed out employees without proper
U.S. work authorization and to punish employers. But it didn’t last
long. Investigations took months. Workers were afraid to come to
work. Some farmers complained their crops were suffering. Elected
officials began to intervene.
“It pretty much stopped,” said Doris Meissner, a former commissioner
of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which was the
predecessor to ICE.
Now a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Migration Police Institute,
she said other presidential administrations have grappled with the
same problem.
“That’s always the conundrum: How do you hold the employer
accountable?” she said. “You can go and get the workers and in two
weeks there are going to be more workers hired.”
Earlier this month, immigration authorities raided an Omaha meat
production plant, angering company officials who said they followed
the law. Trump’s first administration saw the largest workplace
sting in a decade with arrests at seven Mississippi chicken plants.
That made his shift to pause such operations a surprise. He wrote on
Truth Social that the arrests were “taking very good, long time
workers” away and it was hard to replace them.
How the pause will play out is unclear. A message left Monday with
the Department of Homeland Security was not immediately returned.
Immigrants and activists left baffled
Still, Trump's approach confused many.
“On one hand, he will stay away from certain industries and at the
same time double down on Chicago,” said Lawrence Benito, head of the
Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. “I’m not sure
how to reconcile those two comments.”
He said the group would continue to help immigrants understand their
rights in the case of ICE arrests.
U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, a Chicago Democrat, accused Trump of trying
to silence dissent.
In a lengthy post on his Truth Social site about cracking down on
Democratic cities, Trump said, without any evidence, that Democrats
were using immigrants living in the country without legal status to
steal elections.
For others, the latest policies were simply another thing to worry
about.
Jorge Lima, 32, said his immigrant parents from Mexico are only
leaving home to go to their jobs as garment workers in California.
“They don’t go out anymore,” he said. “They’re afraid but they have
to eat.”
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Pineda reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writer Rebecca
Santana contributed from Washington.
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