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
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump recalibrates Gaza stance as humanitarian concerns grow
President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee made a rare trip to Gaza on Friday, spending five hours on the ground touring an aid distribution center and vowing to address a humanitarian crisis amid a growing global outcry. 'The purpose of the visit was to give @POTUS a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza,' Witkoff wrote on X. The visit is emblematic of the ongoing shift inside the White House as Trump, while still supportive of Israel's campaign, has grown increasingly concerned about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza. A White House official, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the president's thinking, asserted that Trump 'hasn't changed his fundamental belief' that Hamas is 'largely' to blame for the protracted conflict. Still, referring to Trump's own comments in recent days, the official acknowledged 'some new concerns.' Those concerns, spurred by photos and accounts of starving children, are echoed within MAGA circles and the broader public. A Gallup poll this week showed that American support for Israel's military action has dropped to 32 percent, a new low. Trump 'calibrates his interactions based on what the issues are. And sometimes people make the mistake of not just listening to the president,' said a senior White House official granted anonymity to discuss the president's thinking. 'He's just straightforward on this stuff. … Like, what's going on with Gaza and Israel. He wants to settle it. Yes, you can't negotiate with Hamas. But, like, he doesn't want kids to starve. He doesn't want that to happen. It's just, that's it. You know, there's not more to it than that.' That doesn't mean Trump is ready to embrace some foreign allies' call to recognize Palestinian statehood — although his opposition may not be quite as firm as it was a couple months ago. Trump earlier this summer privately urged French President Emmanuel Macron against recognizing a Palestinian state, according to two people familiar with the conversation, who were granted anonymity to share closely held details. The call, which has not been previously reported, did not produce the intended result and Macron announced his intention to recognize a Palestinian state last week. But when Trump was asked about it while traveling in Scotland last weekend, he was nonchalant about Macron going ahead with something he'd worked privately to forestall. 'What he says doesn't matter,' the president said. During a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday, Trump seemed almost agnostic about Palestinian statehood, leaving his counterpart space to fall in line behind Macron. 'I'm not going to take a position,' said Trump with Starmer seated at his side. 'I don't mind him taking a position.' The White House declined to comment on Trump's conversation with Macron or his overall approach to the situation in Gaza. And on Thursday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the president has 'expressed his displeasure and disagreement' with both Macron and Starmer, as well as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who also indicated support for Palestinian statehood. Trump, Leavitt continued, still opposes recognizing Palestine as a separate state. 'He feels as though that's rewarding Hamas at a time where Hamas is the true impediment to a ceasefire and to the release of all of the hostages,' she said. Even so, Trump has broken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, not only acknowledging the humanitarian crisis in Gaza but also dispatching top aides to address it. Witkoff's social media post included a picture of him and Huckabee meeting with the Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, to which the U.S. has committed $30 million. Scores of charities and aid groups have criticized the organization for failing to safely distribute aid and said hundreds of Palestinians have been killed trying to access its distribution sites. The Israeli military insists it fires only 'warning shots' and blames Hamas for the violence. Trump on Friday said Witkoff had a "great meeting." "He had a meeting on getting the people fed, and that's what we want,' Trump said. Concern for the plight of the Palestinians is a striking turn for the U.S. president who, just months ago, mused about creating a 'riviera' in the Middle East, a plan that appeared to be centered on forcibly relocating Palestinians into neighboring countries and razing their homes in Gaza. And it was Trump who gave Netanyahu explicit approval, if not outright encouragement, in March to end the fragile U.S. brokered ceasefire after just two months and resume Israel's all-out war and near-total blockade of humanitarian aid. At the time, the president warned Hamas 'THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY!' if continued to hold hostages and declared he was giving Israel "everything it needs to finish the job.' The senior White House official said Trump just wants the bloodshed to end and is 'not deeply concerned about the details.' 'The president routinely preserves optionality and off ramps,' the official said. 'That's kind of his way — a lot of exit strategies on any given thing that are somewhat acceptable.' Solve the daily Crossword
New York Post
37 minutes ago
- New York Post
Cambodia to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize for role in ending country's conflict with Thailand
Cambodia will nominate President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize after he helped the country reach a cease-fire agreement to end its border conflict with Thailand. Sun Chanthol, Cambodia's deputy prime minister, thanked Trump for bringing peace to the region while speaking to reporters earlier Friday in the country's capital of Phnom Penh. Advertisement Chanthol said the American president deserved to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, the highest-profile international award given to a person or organization for doing the most to 'advance fellowship between nations.' 'We acknowledge his great efforts for peace,' Chanthol said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month he had nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize and Pakistani officials said in June they would recommend him for the award for his role in helping to end its conflict with India. Trump urged a cease-fire last week when he spoke to the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand and threatened that the US would not get back to the 'trading table' with the Southeast Asian countries until the fighting stops. Advertisement 5 Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Manet shakes hands with Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Thailand's acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai during a press conference in Putrajaya on July 28, 2025. via REUTERS 5 President Donald Trump speaks to reporters outside the White House on Aug. 1, 2025. / MEGA A cease-fire was negotiated in Malaysia on Monday, ending the heaviest conflict between the two countries in over a decade. 'Numerous people were killed and I was dealing with two countries that we get along with very well, very different countries from certain standpoints. They've been fighting for 500 years intermittently. And, we solved that war … we solved it through trade,' Trump told reporters during his recent trip to Scotland. Advertisement Following news of the cease-fire, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X that Trump's direct involvement led to the truce. 'President Trump made this happen. Give him the Nobel Peace Prize!,' she said. 5 A fire erupts at a Cambodian military arms depot after a reported Thai drone strike in Preah Vihear Province, Cambodia on July 25, 2025. via REUTERS 5 The remains of a home destroyed by a fire after being struck by Cambodian artillery in the Surin Province, Thai on July 27, 2025. AFP via Getty Images Advertisement The fighting began last week after a land mine explosion along the border wounded five Thai soldiers. Each side blamed the other for starting the clashes, which lasted five days. At least 43 people were killed and more than 300,000 people were displaced on both sides of the border. 'I said, 'I don't want to trade with anybody that's killing each other,'' Trump continued while in Scotland. 'So we just got that one solved. And I'm going to call the two prime ministers who I got along with very, very well and speak to them right after this meeting and congratulate them. But it was an honor to be involved in that. That was going to be a very nasty war. Those wars have been very, very nasty.' 5 Thailand's mobile artillery unit fires rounds across to Cambodia's side of the border on July 25, 2025. REUTERS Chanthol, who also serves as Cambodia's top trade negotiator, said his country was also grateful to Trump for a reduced tariff rate of 19%. The Trump administration had initially threatened a tariff of 49% before later reducing it to 36%, a level that would have decimated Cambodia's vital garment and footwear sector, Chanthol told Reuters. Reuters contributed to this report.
Boston Globe
2 hours ago
- Boston Globe
How Democrats can stop talking past each other and start winning
A second group of moderates, including important donors, are libertarians who endorse ' Advertisement The third group of moderate Democrats yearns to turn back the clock to the New Deal coalition. A chief spokesperson is Ruy Teixeira of the Liberal Patriot newsletter. '[T]he New Deal Democrats were moderate and even small-c conservative in their social outlook,' he Advertisement Beginning in the 1970s, college-educated progressives began to focus on issues involving race, gender, the environment, and sexual freedom. Teixeira This brings us to the only moderate position that holds promise for Democrats: defining moderate as being pragmatic, rather than doctrinaire. College-educated progressives need to recognize that their priorities and their cultural values don't match those of most Americans. In 2024, inflation and the economy were Advertisement Centering that economic message is the first pragmatic step in rebuilding Democrats' brand to appeal to both college grads and noncollege grads. The second step is to recognize that cultural preferences differ across class lines. Non-elites value self-discipline because they need to get up every day, on time, without an attitude, to work at jobs with little autonomy. Consequently, they highly value traditional institutions that anchor self-discipline: religion, the military, the family. Those same institutions offer non-elites sources of social status independent of their subordinate positions in a capitalist economy. Blue-collar values reflect blue-collar lives. That's why, on cultural issues, college-educated progressives need to stop demanding a mind-meld with the Democratic Party. If you're playing to win, politics requires not purity but an ability to build coalitions with people whose values may differ from yours in fundamental ways. Democrats need to treat voters without college degrees as respected coalition partners, making tradeoffs. Advertisement This doesn't mean that progressives need to abandon their values; it means they have to act on them. Here are two uncomfortable facts: Progressive activists as a group are much
