DONALD TRUMP’S PUSH FOR MASS DEPORTATIONS was always reliant on a degree of shock and awe. Fear and intimidation were both means and ends. But recently, the administration has had to slow down or even abandon individual deportations in the face of strong popular resistance. And now the president is signaling another huge exception to his deportation policy.

“We’re also going to work with farmers,” Trump said Thursday. “If they have strong recommendations for their farms for certain people, we’re going to let them stay in for a while. . . . We have to take care of our farmers and our hotels and various places where they need the people.”

Trump’s off-the-cuff comments aren’t necessarily government policy, but they often signal future policy directions. In this case, it sounds like Trump is getting ready to carve out exemptions from his deportation regime for agricultural workers. After all, Trump is right—bear with me—that farms have a special need for immigrant labor.

In February, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) met with California Citrus Mutual, a trade association that represents the growers who provide 90 percent of the country’s lemons, grapefruits, and oranges. Already, just days into Trump’s second term, the association was concerned about the impact Trump’s then-hypothetical tariffs could have on the Central Valley, and the group’s president and CEO, Casey Creamer, had warned that immigration raids threatened the food supply. The problem antedated the Trump administration: After major raids in early January by Customs and Border Protection in Kern County, “one citrus operation reported that 25% of its workers did not show up,” according to Creamer. “By the following day, that number had climbed to 75%.” Locals and labor groups interpret those pre-inauguration raids as the agency trying to impress the incoming president.