- Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons announced a crackdown on U.S. companies that hire and exploit undocumented migrant workers, especially in agriculture, hospitality and manufacturing sectors.
- Lyons emphasized that recent raids are based on federal criminal warrants tied to potential human trafficking, child exploitation or labor abuses – not just immigration violations.
- Civil rights groups have filed a lawsuit in California accusing ICE of racial profiling, alleging agents target individuals with brown skin and question them without cause.
- Lyons defended ICE's controversial policy of allowing agents to wear masks during operations, citing threats and safety concerns for agents and their families.
- The enforcement strategy has drawn backlash from immigrant advocates and state officials, fueling debate over civil liberties, labor practices and the role of federal immigration enforcement.
Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons has revealed that ICE will intensify efforts to target American companies that knowingly hire and exploit undocumented migrant workers.
Initially, the Trump administration sought to focus on the deportation of undocumented immigrants accused of violent crimes. However, ICE has ramped up raids in recent months at work sites in agriculture, hospitality and manufacturing sectors – industries that depend heavily on migrant labor, including undocumented workers.
In an interview on CBS News' "Face the Nation" on Sunday, July 20, Lyons addressed the backlash to the increased activity of ICE. Lyons said the agency is pursuing criminal warrants at workplaces where illegal immigrants may be victims, not just violators. (Related: Foreign-born U.S. population hits record high at 49.5 million in October.)
"We hear all the time, from the left and the right, hey, we'll support you if you have a criminal warrant, search warrant signed by a judge. And when you see a lot of the worksite that we've done, like the marijuana grow farm or the events on June 6 that led to the riots and the protesting of us in L.A., they were actual federal criminal warrants that ICE was going to a location that either had possible human trafficking, child exploitation or some type of criminal event. That's what ICE is focused on right now," he said.
Lyons then explained that ICE's approach is not limited to rounding up undocumented workers. The agency is also targeting the businesses that hire and exploit them, often under the radar of labor and safety laws.
"Not only are we focused on those individuals that are, you know, working here illegally, we're focused on these American companies that are actually exploiting these laborers," Lyons said during the interview.
"These people that came here for a better life. You know, either forced labor, child trafficking, you know, a lot of these work site cases – just isn't a victimless crime of someone here working illegally. And that's why we're going there with these criminal warrants to focus on these American businesses that are trying to make an extra dollar on the backs of these people that came here for a better life."
Lyons defends masked ICE agents policy amid safety concerns
During the interview, Lyons also spoke about the controversial decision to allow ICE officers to wear masks during certain operations – a policy he said is meant to protect agents and their families amid growing hostility toward the agency.
Immigrant rights groups in California have filed a lawsuit against ICE, accusing the agency of engaging in racial profiling during its enforcement operations. The lawsuit alleges ICE agents are targeting individuals based on skin color and physical appearance, questioning and detaining "individuals with brown skin" with what plaintiffs describe as "a show of force."
According to the filing, agents frequently stop people without cause, demanding to know who they are and where they are from a practice civil rights attorneys argue violates constitutional protections against discrimination and unlawful searches.
ICE has not commented directly on the lawsuit, but Lyons addressed the criticism during the interview.
"That's one of our biggest concerns. And I've said it publicly before, I'm not a proponent of the masks," he said. "However, if that's a tool that the men and women of ICE to keep themselves and their family safe, then I will allow it."
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Watch new border czar Tom Homan telling Veronika Kyrylenko of The New American magazine that the U.S. border is broken by design.
This video is from The New American channel on Brighteon.com.
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