During a White House press conference this week, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked, “Is the president concerned about the economy if farms and hotels etc. struggle to find workers?”
Leavitt replied that the President is always thinking about the economy, further claiming that “wage growth is at a record high, for middle class American workers.”
Regarding migrants being taken away from farms, restaurants and hotels, Leavitt said the President “has made it very clear that we need to remove public safety threats from the interior of our country, and that remains the focus and priority of this administration when it comes to deportation, no matter where someone works.”
(NOTE: The question stems from President Trump’s calling for a pause on ICE immigration sweeps at hotels, farms and other places where migrants — often undocumented — represent a large and mission-critical percentage of the workforce, a pause which the President swiftly reversed.)
This assertion that the Trump administration isn’t recklessly targeting undocumented immigrants with no criminal records is laughably inaccurate.
— Governor Gavin Newsom (@CAgovernor) June 19, 2025
It’s completely disconnected from their own policies and the continuing militarized raids in Los Angeles and recent arrests in… pic.twitter.com/FkkqMTJ4X5
California Governor Gavin Newsom responded to Leavitt’s remarks, taking aim at her assertion that dangerous migrants — “public safety threats” — are the chief concern of the administration.
Newsom wrote: “This assertion that the Trump administration isn’t recklessly targeting undocumented immigrants with no criminal records is laughably inaccurate. It’s completely disconnected from their own policies and the continuing militarized raids in Los Angeles and recent arrests in Ventura County. They only care about arresting as many people as possible — regardless of how it hurts families, the economy and entire communities.”
Newsom added: “@RealDonaldTrump stop targeting the hardworking people who are the backbone of our economy.” (Trump, in his original pause, characterized the spared migrants as “very good, long time workers.”)
Speaking the opinion of many MAGA supporters, including Trump himself after his reversal about sparing “good, long time workers,” conservative Fox News star Tomi Lahren replied to Newsom: “If you are in this country illegally, you are up for deportation.”
According to the U.S. Agriculture Department, about 42 percent of U.S. farmworkers are undocumented. There has been a reported escalation of ICE raids on farms in the Central Valley of California, where according to the New York Times a quarter of the nation’s food is produced (worth an estimated $17 billion a year).
Bryan Little, Senior Director of Policy Advocacy at the California Farm Bureau said: “If federal immigration enforcement activities continue, food production will become increasingly difficult, and food prices could rise.”
