President Donald Trump sparked a political uproar this week after signaling that he may ease immigration enforcement in certain sectors like hotels, retail, and agriculture. That comment was enough for Newsom to declare on X that Trump had just “reversed course,” hailing it as a “major win” for pro-migrant activists and California Democrats.

“This happened because you spoke up,” Newsom wrote. “Keep it peaceful. It’s working.”

But as quickly as Trump appeared to soften, he pivoted again. In a TruthSocial post Thursday night, Trump declared that “21 million illegal aliens have to go home,” reaffirming his hardline stance and doubling down on deportation. He accused Newsom and the Biden administration of “invading” the country and pledged mass removals through what he calls “Remigration.”

That back-and-forth isn’t unusual for Trump, who has long tried to keep both his populist base and business-friendly backers satisfied. But this latest episode exposes the growing tension between those priorities.

Hotel and farming industries have relied heavily on cheap foreign labor for decades, and many of those businesses are now lobbying the Trump administration for carveouts. According to the Financial Times, Trump may be considering limited exemptions through existing visa programs like H-2A, which allow seasonal foreign labor.

Still, for America First conservatives, even a partial retreat on enforcement is cause for concern.

“This is a slippery slope,” warned Fox News host Laura Ingraham, slamming Trump’s openness to employer-specific leniency. She asked, “Who worked in the food and hospitality industries before we had open borders?”

Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies agreed. “Hotels and restaurants should try offering decent pay and working conditions,” she said, adding that Americans have been pushed out of jobs for years by the flood of cheap labor.

The fallout has been significant. Since 2010, millions of U.S. men have exited the labor force, and experts link that to a surge in addiction, suicides, and economic stagnation in working-class towns. Trump’s earlier efforts this year — which reportedly helped a million illegal migrants self-deport — had begun to reverse that trend. As Breitbart reports, that shift opened job opportunities for over a million Americans and helped wages begin to rise after years of inflation and wage stagnation.

But Newsom isn’t letting go of the narrative that his pressure campaign worked. He’s painting Trump’s brief moment of moderation as proof that the protests and resistance tactics are influencing federal policy — especially after California erupted into anti-ICE riots last week following mass deportation operations in Los Angeles.

Newsom’s “victory lap” may have been premature, though. Trump’s own words Thursday made clear he isn’t backing down. “America was invaded and occupied,” Trump wrote. “I am reversing the invasion… America will be for Americans again.”

That rhetoric sets the stage for a high-stakes immigration fight heading into 2026. Democrats hope to paint Trump as erratic and cruel. Trump, meanwhile, is trying to thread the needle between voter anger over border chaos and economic fears from employers bracing for labor shortages.

Vice President JD Vance, speaking to investors earlier this year, said it best: “Cheap labor is a drug… and we’ve gotten addicted.” Vance, a key figure in shaping Trump’s second-term agenda, has made clear that the administration’s goal is to detox the American economy from that dependency — even if it upsets big donors.

The question now is whether Trump’s team can maintain that balance, or if Newsom and the left can spin his momentary hesitation into a full-scale retreat. Either way, the next immigration announcement will be watched like a hawk — by both the base and the opposition.