The agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, is catching the wrath of supporters of President Trump’s deportation agenda, getting razed by critics for her perceived role in persuading the president to keep some illegal farm and hotel workers in the country. 

Mr. Trump changed his tune last week about deporting illegal workers in the agriculture and tourism industries after being lobbied by his agriculture secretary and some of his supporters in the leisure industry, according to the New York Times. Several conservative lawmakers also urged the president to focus his migrant deportation efforts on criminals instead of illegals working in vital American industries.

On Thursday, the president posted on Truth Social that “changes are coming” in his deportation policy.

“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,” the president wrote on Truth Social on Thursday. “We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA.”

A senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official, Tatum King, reportedly sent guidance to agents on Thursday telling them to “hold on all work site enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants, and operating hotels.”

While arrests continued Friday at various farms, including in several California counties, according to the United Farm Workers of America, “America First” supporters of mass deportations are calling for Ms. Rollins’s head following the change in policy.

“She needs to be removed. This is extremely damaging to Trump. She should never have been a part of this Administration precisely because of these actions,” a conservative film producer, Ned Ryun, wrote on X.

“This is an absolute disgusting betrayal of the United States & the America First movement. She should resign ASAP!” a Lake County, Florida, commissioner, Anthony Sabatini, wrote.

According to the agriculture department’s Economic Research Service, the food industry contributed $1.537 trillion to America’s gross domestic product in 2023. America’s agriculture industry makes up 5.5 percent of the economy and 10.4 percent of the workforce. 

More than 86 percent of the roughly 283,000 farm workers in America are foreign born, and 45 percent are undocumented, according to the Center for Migration Studies. The pro-migrant group says 88 percent come from Mexico, and nearly half reside in California. Illegal farm workers make up 4 percent of the total undocumented workforce in America, the center reports. 

Hotels accounted for $106 billion in revenues in 2023 and employed 1.1 million undocumented workers, the American Immigration Council reports.

Ms. Rollins responded to the criticism on Sunday by calling the reports “fake news” and her critics are “grifters trying to divide us.” 

“I fully support President Trump’s America First immigration agenda as stated in his campaign, starting with strong border security and deportations of EVERY illegal alien. This agenda is essential to fixing a broken farm-labor economy and restoring integrity to the American workforce,” she wrote in a statement on X. 

“The President and I have consistently advanced a ‘Farmers First’ approach, recognizing that American households depend upon a stable and LEGAL agricultural workforce. Severe disruptions to our food supply would harm Americans. It took us decades to get into this mess and we are prioritizing deportations in a way that will get us out.  This administration is undeniably focused on the America First agenda and my work at the Department of Agriculture is no different,” she continued. 

Others are also stepping to Ms. Rollins’s defense. The Tarrant County, Texas, GOP chairman, Bo French, warned Trump supporters against relying on the New York Times and said critics of Ms. Rollins will end up cannibalizing the president’s agenda. 

“People forget that Trump is a master negotiator. We all want mass deportations which means all illegals. But it is possible that negotiations are under way that we are unaware of,” he posted. “What if he told Tyson, and other big Food he would pause raids for a period, say a year, but in that time they have to replace ALL the illegals. We get what we want with no disruptions to the food supply.”