Ag Secretary Suggests Replacing Migrant Farm Workers With 'People On Medicaid'
But her explanation as to why not sounds a touch dystopian.
During a Tuesday press conference, Rollins insisted that 'there will be no amnesty' for agricultural workers who aren't authorized to be in the U.S.
Instead, Rollins said, President Donald Trump's mass deportation agenda will 'continue, but in a strategic way.'
She then suggested a doozy of a plan to replace deported farmworkers: A combination of 'automation and 100% American participation,' which she said could be provided by what she called the '34 million people, able-bodied adults, on Medicaid.'
Brooke Rollins on farm laborers: "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 on Medicaid we should be able to do fairly quickly." pic.twitter.com/GsLprEFImG
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 8, 2025
HuffPost reached out to Rollins' office for clarity on her proposal. For one thing, the number of 'able-bodied adults' on Medicaid who are available for farm labor gets a lot smaller when you dive into the details (her 34 million figure appears to include parents and people who are already working elsewhere).
Meanwhile, social media users were left wondering what it would look like to force millions of people on Medicaid to labor on American farms.
"We can replace the brown people we're deporting with the elderly people we're kicking off Medicaid! I'm sure kicking folk off Medicaid and into farm work will go just swimmingly.
— Dj Omega Mvp (@DjOmegaMVP) July 8, 2025
So are they going to bring chain gangs back to pick crops using Medicaid recipients instead of Prisoners?
— Johan Nilson Nagel (@NagelNilson) July 8, 2025
Brooke Rollins claims that "34 million able-bodied Americans on Medicaid will be able to replace agricultural workers...22 million people on Medicaid are 50 and over.We're gonna put Grandma to work picking fruit? Got it.
— Janice Hough (@leftcoastbabe) July 8, 2025
BREAKING: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says that 'able bodied' Medicaid recipients will replace the farmworkers that Trump deports. These are not jobs that Americans want to do. This Administration does not understand the labor market. pic.twitter.com/xGJCCStyuK
— Trump Lie Tracker (Commentary) (@MAGALieTracker) July 8, 2025
Somebody should have her explain how the hell someone that has been living on the little money they get from Medicaid and probably doesn't have a car is expected to get to a job Trump's agriculture head expects '34M able-bodied on Medicaid' to do farm work https://t.co/Z3flqNVwGD
— DaveStirek (@57555ds) July 8, 2025
🚨 Brooke Rollins just said the quiet part out loud:'No amnesty. Mass deportations continue. We'll replace immigrant labor with machines and force the poor on Medicaid to pick up the slack.'This is a manifesto for a low-wage police state.Deport the immigrants. Threaten the… pic.twitter.com/Br80DoFgjZ
— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) July 8, 2025
Trump Signs His Cruel Tax And Spending Bill
Trump Admin Reverses Policy Against Targeting Some Immigrants: Report
Supreme Court Allows Trump To Restart Swift Deportation Of Migrants Away From Their Home Countries
Trump Takes Lie-Packed Victory Lap On Bill Slashing Medicaid, Food Stamps
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