President Donald Trump has escalated his tough stance on immigration, demanding a sweeping expansion of arrests and deportations by federal agents with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday, the Republican president called on ICE and other agencies to do all in their power to carry out what he described as the single largest mass deportation programme in History.

Mr Trump specifically targeted Democrat-led cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, urging the federal agents to step up enforcement efforts.

The president’s hard-line approach has sparked widespread protests across several U.S. cities.

Demonstrations in the U.S. intensified recently after Mr Trump deployed National Guard troops and marines to Los Angeles, a move strongly opposed by California Governor Gavin Newsom, a prominent Democrat and potential 2028 presidential contender.

Mass deportations were a central promise during Mr Trump’s election campaign, and since taking office, his administration has staged raids accompanied by press releases, photographs and regular updates on deportations to showcase their efforts.

An estimated 11 million people currently live in the U.S. without valid papers.

Many work in sectors vital to the economy, such as agriculture, construction and hospitality.

Against this backdrop, Mr Trump has recently made a notable adjustment.

Earlier on Thursday, he suggested exempting the agriculture and hotel industries from the immigration crackdown.

“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,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The New York Times reported, citing government officials, that the change came after agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins called Mr Trump and told him of growing concern among farm owners.

(dpa/NAN)