Washington — President Trump on Sunday night directed federal immigration officials to prioritize deportations from Democratic-run cities, a move that comes after large protests erupted in Los Angeles and other major metropolitan areas against the Trump administration's immigration policies.

"Migration ... has turned once idyllic towns into scenes of Third World Dystopia." President Donald Trump said in a social media post directing ICE agents to step up deportations.

At the same time, the Trump administration has directed immigration officers to pause arrests at farms, restaurants and hotels, after Trump expressed alarm about the impact aggressive enforcement is having on those industries, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter who spoke only on condition of anonymity.