Trump Will Target US Employers in Next Phase of Immigration Crackdown, Homan Says

The Trump administration is planning to ramp up civil and criminal prosecutions of companies that employ workers without legal status, White House border czar Tom Homan said in an interview Wednesday.

“Worksite enforcement operations are going to massively expand,” Homan said.

The White House has faced criticism from Democrats and even its own anti-immigration allies for exaggerating an immigrant crime wave while holding harmless the employers whose decisions shape huge sectors of the American economy.

President Donald Trump “won’t prosecute companies for bribery and won’t prosecute companies for hiring illegal immigrants,” Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said on X Tuesday. “This administration just takes care of its donors.”

But behind the scenes, American companies are “freaking out” about the possibility of civil and criminal sanctions, or about the operational impact of losing a huge labor force, said Chris Thomas, a partner at Holland & Hart, who represents employers in immigration cases.

He said clients have been “calling in a panic — asking if they should be looking for ways to cut out potentially undocumented workers.” (He added that his clients do not know themselves to be employing any.)

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Trump appeared to respond to those worries on Thursday morning: “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,” he posted on Truth Social, promising that “changes are coming.”

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Though the Trump administration prefers to focus on “sanctuary” city policies that prevent police from turning over migrants who have committed crimes, this week’s turmoil in Los Angeles began when federal agents raided four workplaces in the city’s garment district as part of criminal investigations. Homan said the government will seek sanctions against employers.

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DoorDash said in a recent filing that a crackdown “may result in a decrease in the pool of Dashers.”

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Federal authorities have generally avoided targeting companies for a range of reasons, including the high burden of proof under laws that require showing that employers affirmatively knew the workers they hired lacked legal status.

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A concerted focus on employer enforcement would also shake huge segments of the US economy. Almost a quarter of construction workers lack legal status, a 2021 survey found, and as many as half of meatpacking workers.

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But ICE raided a Nebraska meatpacking plant this week. “Congress has a job to do,” Homan said. “We’re going to do worksite enforcement operations until there’s a deal made.”