President Donald Trump has executed a stunning reversal on one of his signature issues—immigration enforcement—prompting sharp criticism from conservative commentator Charlie Sykes, who argues the flip-flop “hasn’t received the attention it really deserves.”
In his Sunday Substack newsletter, Sykes addressed what he dubbed “The Mother of All TACOS”—a term playing on the financial acronym “Trump Always Chickens Out.” According to Sykes, Trump’s unexpected change of course on workplace immigration raids marks a major shift that left even his closest advisers surprised.
“Given the frenetic pace of the news cycle, this story hasn’t received the attention it really deserves,” Sykes wrote. “After making mass deportation and ICE raids on workplaces a centerpiece of his presidency, Donald J. Trump chickened out. Once again. It was a flip-flop so gobsmacking that it left some of his closest aides stunned.”
The reversal came despite Trump’s long-standing promise to crack down on undocumented immigrants, particularly through aggressive workplace raids. However, recent comments from the president suggest a more lenient tone toward certain sectors of the labor force.
Trump was quoted as saying, “Our farmers are being hurt badly. They have very good workers who have worked for them for 20 years. They’re not citizens, but they’ve turned out to be great. And we’re going to have to do something about that. We can’t take all their people and send them back … And leisure too, and hotels.”
Following that statement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reportedly issued an order to “hold on all work site enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants, and operating hotels.” According to The New York Times, Trump’s shift came after strong lobbying from industries that rely heavily on undocumented labor.
“For months, Mr. Trump and his aides have said they would target all immigrants without legal status in the United States to make good on his campaign promise for mass deportations. While the administration came into office saying it would initially target undocumented immigrants with criminal records, it has in recent weeks expanded to raiding work sites and sweeping up other undocumented immigrants broadly.
On Thursday, Mr. Trump acknowledged that the crackdown might be alienating industries he wanted to keep on his side.” Summing up the about-face, Sykes added a blunt reaction familiar to many political observers: “WTAF?”
As Trump navigates a tightrope between hardline immigration rhetoric and economic interests, this latest pivot suggests political calculation may again outweigh policy consistency.