Biden administration ends mass immigration arrests at work sites

The Biden administration on Tuesday announced U.S. immigration authorities will no longer carry out mass arrests of unauthorized immigrants at work sites, saying law enforcement efforts should focus on holding exploitative employers accountable.

In a memo, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) should prioritize combating illegal acts committed by "unscrupulous" employers, whom he noted often pay workers substandard wages, subject them to unsafe working conditions and facilitate human trafficking and child exploitation.

"Our worksite enforcement efforts can have a significant impact on the well-being of individuals and the fairness of the labor market," Mayorkas wrote. "Our accomplishments in this area make clear that we can maximize the impact of our efforts by focusing on unscrupulous employers who exploit the vulnerability of undocumented workers."

The announcement is a departure from the immigration arrest policies of the Trump administration, which resumed large worksite roundups. In the summer of 2019, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out the largest single-state immigration enforcement operation in U.S. history, arresting nearly 700 undocumented food processing plant workers in Mississippi.