FRESNO, Calif. — President Donald Trump is reversing course on his immigration raid policy when it comes to farm workers, he announced on Truth Social.

“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,” Trump wrote. “…We must protect our farmers, but get criminals out of the U.S.A. Changes are coming!”

According to the U.S. Agriculture Department, 42% of crop farmworkers from 2020 to 2022 lacked legal status.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the change is happening because Californians spoke up. “Keep it going. Keep it peaceful. It’s working,” he wrote on X.

In a post on social media, Newsom shared a story about a 12-year-old boy he met in Oxnard, California whose parents had been taken by agents. They had been working the fields for over 20 years.

“Donald Trump may not care about him, but he’s finally listening to you calling out these indiscriminate acts of cruelty,” Newsom said. “Let’s keep up the pressure, and let’s do it peacefully.”

Newsom added that he is watching the Trump administration closely and will hold the president to his word.

Trump’s decision to stop ICE raids on farmworkers comes just months after a federal judge in Central California barred Border Patrol agents from arresting someone suspected of living in the U.S. illegally unless they have a warrant or a reason to believe the person might flee before a warrant can be obtained.

That ruling came after Border Patrol agents carried out “Operation Return to Sender” in Central California. Officials say 78 people were detained in the January operation.

Earlier this week, ABC7 Los Angeles reported about an ICE raid targeting farmworkers in Ventura County.

Video posted online showed ICE agents chasing after some of the workers as they fled the fields. It is unclear how many people were detained during the operation.