Trump administration defends immigration tactics after California worker death

Federal officials on Sunday defended President Donald Trump's escalating campaign to deport immigrants in the U.S. illegally, including a California farm raid that left one worker dead, and said the administration would appeal a ruling to halt some of its more aggressive tactics.

Trump has vowed to deport millions of people in the country illegally and has executed raids at work sites including farms that were largely exempted from enforcement during his first term. The administration has faced dozens of lawsuits across the country for its tactics.

Department of Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem and Trump's border czar Tom Homan said on Sunday that the administration would appeal a federal judge's Friday ruling that blocked the administration from detaining immigrants based solely on racial profiling and denying detained people the right to speak with a lawyer.

In interviews with Fox News and NBC, Noem criticized the judge, an appointee of Democratic former President Joe Biden, and denied that the administration had used the tactics described in the lawsuit.