ICE raids or work permits? Trump wants it both ways

President Donald Trump’s promise to ratchet immigration levels back is colliding headlong with his other goal: a thriving economy that brings manufacturing and foreign investment back to the US. He can’t have it both ways, but he doesn’t seem to understand that. Perhaps that’s why his administration keeps dangling — and then retracting — the prospect of special exceptions for undocumented immigrants who work in certain sectors.

For months, Trump has whipsawed between merciless deportations that have chilled legal and illegal immigration and vague promises about carve-outs for affected industries. A clear plan has never materialized. His mixed signals are creating an intolerable level of confusion for businesses and prospective workers alike, with unhappy results for the US economy.

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Whether it’s hospitality, construction, farming or manufacturing, the economy requires plentiful labor. The US is a nation with an aging population. If it chokes off immigration, the math simply will not work.

The conflict came into sharp focus in a Sept. 4 raid on a Hyundai-LG plant in Georgia. Nearly 500 were arrested, including hundreds of South Korean engineers and technicians. The result has been a diplomatic disaster, with South Koreans calling the incident called “a national humiliation.” The South Korean government is launching its own investigation into potential human rights abuses and its president is questioning whether future investments should proceed.

The incident appears, at last, to have thrown a good scare into Trump and others in his administration. In a recent Truth Social post, Trump sounded an almost pleading note, saying that “I don’t want to frighten off or disincentivize Investment into America by outside Countries or Companies. We welcome them, we welcome their employees, and we are willing to proudly say we will learn from them.” Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau subsequently paid a visited to Seoul to drive home the message.

The Georgia raid is yet another example of this administration working at cross-purposes. How hard would it have been for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to work with company officials and employees to resolve visa issues with what were clearly temporary workers there for a specific purpose? There’s no need to play “gotcha.” Georgia and South Korea have a business partnership that stretches back decades, and this was an important project for both. Previous, non-Trump administrations likely would have ironed out any problems minus the drama; that seems never to have occurred to this White House.

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And it’s not just foreign investment. American companies that depend on immigrant labor are facing critical worker shortages.

As far back as June, Trump hinted at “temporary passes” that could allow immigrants to work in certain businesses, including farms and hotels. At the time, he unabashedly said “I’m on both sides of the thing. I’m the strongest immigration guy that’s ever been, but I’m also the strongest farmer guy that there’s ever been.” (According to reporting by the Washington Post and the New York Times, the Trump Organization has, in the past, employed undocumented workers at nearly a dozen of its properties, including hotels, golf courses and Trump’s winery.)

Yet the president continues to have trouble offering clarity at a time when clarity is required. More confusion came on Friday with Trump’s surprise restrictions on the H-1B visa program for skilled foreign workers that raise sponsorship costs for companies to $100,000 per worker. Such workers have become a staple of hiring in tech, engineering and other industries, and the business community panicked, not knowing whether it applied to existing workers (it doesn’t) or whether the costs were actually, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick initially said, per year for the three-year visas. In typical fashion, Trump’s team spent the weekend on mop-up, issuing clarifications and corrections.

Mass deportations and other restrictions have had a chilling effect and become a factor in the slowing economy. The Peterson Institute for International Economics , examining US Labor Department nonfarm payroll data, noted that job growth in construction, hotels, restaurants and home health care has been flat in 2025. Prior to the crackdown, job growth in industries that rely on unauthorized immigrants kept pace with the rest of the private sector.

The Peterson Institute also concluded that Trump’s campaign promise — that cracking down on illegal immigration would make jobs more plentiful for American workers — has yet to come true. Declining immigration rates have failed to raise the employment rate among those born in the US. Earlier this week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell made a direct link between Trump’s severe immigration restrictions and a weakening economy. Asked why hiring had slumped, Powell responded, “That’s much more about the change in immigration… There’s very little growth, if any, in the supply of workers.” The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 290,000 immigrants will be removed by 2029 — enough to shrink the labor force and affect GDP growth.

There are practical steps Trump could take to navigate a middle ground. Top of the list is something he has studiously avoided: negotiating with Congress to develop legal pathways for the immigrant labor this country needs. He could also instruct the Department of Homeland Security to strengthen and improve temporary visa programs, something he floated at a Cabinet meeting in April. He could rein in his administration’s harshest voices, such as Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, whose influence has sent the debate over immigration into toxic territory.

Last week, Trump reached out to new citizens with an unusually welcoming, conciliatory message, praising them for “forging a sacred bond with our Nation,” and reminding them that “our history is now your history,” and that the Constitution was theirs “to safeguard, honor and respect.”

Those are fine, inspiring words. But they will mean little unless they are backed up by action and clarity. Immigrants have been and continue to be the lifeblood of the US. Give them the dignity of a legal means of entering this country — and give companies the security of knowing their workers are authorized to remain here.