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Related: About this forumTrump's Ag Sec Gives UNTHINKABLE Solution To Immigration Problem - Really American
Donald Trump's Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins argued that 34 million "able-bodied adults" who are at risk of losing their Medicaid benefits should be expected to take the jobs of migrants on farms.
During a Tuesday press conference, Rollins was asked about Donald Trump's pledge to give farmers a "pass" when it came to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids.
"There will be no amnesty," Rollins insisted. "The mass deportations continue, but in a strategic way. And we move the workforce towards automation and 100% American participation, which again, with 34 million people, able-bodied adults on Medicaid, we should be able to do that fairly quickly." - 07/08/2025.

Chasstev365
(5,770 posts)Can the Trump administration get any more Dickensian?
rampartd
(2,218 posts)and maybe we should make those fields accessible first
HarryM
(405 posts)I thought that Alligator Alcatraz was what the answer to the immigration "problem."
Now they want slave camps to make people who are not capable of holding regular jobs, people who do not have enough money to pay for the high priced insurance. They want them to harvest the food? Are they going to pay them as well, or are they simply a source of slave labor?
This is getting worse every day.
mdbl
(6,965 posts)Out of her ass?
LetMyPeopleVote
(166,564 posts)If the Trump administration is counting on Americans on Medicaid replacing immigrants on farms, officials should probably start working on a Plan B.
Agriculture secretary suggests Medicaid recipients can replace immigrants as farmworkers.
— hateGOP (@hategop.bsky.social) 2025-07-08T21:36:08.484Z
If the Trump administration is counting on Americans on Medicaid replacing immigrants on farms, officials should probably start working on a Plan B.
www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
Link to tweet
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/agriculture-secretary-suggests-medicaid-recipients-can-replace-immigra-rcna217572
This week, as Reuters reported, the moving target moved again:
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Tuesday that there will be no amnesty for agricultural workers from the Trump administrations efforts to deport all immigrants in the country illegally. The farm sector has warned that mass deportation of farm workers would disrupt the U.S. food supply.
To be sure, the Cabinet secretarys comments were newsworthy, though if recent history is any guide, a prominent White House official, including possibly Donald Trump himself, will contradict Rollins very soon.
But of particular interest was something else the agriculture secretary said.
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4llrhdclvdlmmynkwsmg5tdc/post/3lthhwchvtw2h
Link to tweet
I cant emphasize this enough, Rollins said. There will be no amnesty; the mass deportations continue, but in a strategic way; and we move the workforce toward automation and 100% American participation, which with 34 million able-bodied adults on Medicaid, we should be able to do fairly quickly.
In other words, as the agriculture secretary sees it, theres no need for concern about farmers losing out on immigrant labor because those workers can be replaced thanks to automation and Medicaid beneficiaries......
But what I find myself stuck on is Rollins quote in the context of the Republicans domestic policy megabill. GOP policymakers approved sweeping and unprecedented cuts to Medicaid, arguing that Americans who lose coverage can simply get jobs that offer health insurance.
Its against this backdrop that the secretary of agriculture suggested that Medicaid beneficiaries whose coverage is at risk can replace immigrants as farmworkers, brushing past the inconvenient fact that farmworkers tend not to get health care coverage.
All of which is to say, if the administration is counting on Americans on Medicaid replacing immigrants on farms, officials should probably start working on a Plan B.