Illegal migrants working on U.S. farms will not be granted amnesty and could face mass deportation as the Trump administration pushes for “a 100% American workforce,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Tuesday.
Rollins, though, did say the administration needs to be “strategic in how we are implementing the mass deportation so as not to compromise our food supply.”
Speaking in Iowa last week, President Donald Trump said he’s open to allowing migrant laborers to remain in the U.S.—provided the farmers who employ them are willing to vouch for them. He added that he’s working with the Department of Homeland Security to support farmers who rely on migrant workers for seasonal labor.
Speaking at a press conference outside her department’s headquarters, Rollins was asked about Trump’s suggestion of a possible “temporary pass” for undocumented migrant farm workers. Rollins responded by noting that Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer and her team are actively reviewing the H-2A visa program as it pertains to agricultural labor. However, she firmly stated, “I can’t underscore this enough: There will be no amnesty.”
Earlier, Rollins was asked if she was concerned about how mass deportations might impact the agriculture industry. “So, no amnesty under any circumstances,” Rollins said. “Mass deportations continue, but in a strategic and intentional way as we move our workforce toward more automation and toward a 100% American workforce.
“And ultimately it’s the wonderful members of Congress behind me who are taking this on … fixing the current immigration system,” she said. Rollins admitted there has been “a lot of noise in the last few days and a lot of questions about where the president stands and his vision for farm labor.”
“The first thing I’ll say is the president has been unequivocal that there will be no amnesty, and I think that’s very, very important,” she added. “I and the rest of our Cabinet certainly support that, effectuate that, and make sure that happens every single day.
“The second thing to your question about mass deportations, the president and I have spoken about that once or twice, and he has always been of the mindset that at the end of the day, the promise to America to ensure that we have a 100% American workforce stands, but we must be strategic in how we are implementing the mass deportation so as not to compromise our food supply,” she said.
The secretary said the farm industry needs “automation, also some reform within the current governing structure.” Rollins added: “There are 34 million able-bodied adults in our Medicaid program. There are plenty of workers in America, but we just have to make sure we’re not compromising today, especially in the context of everything we’re thinking about right now.”
