Illegal migrants who work on U.S. farms will not be given amnesty and could be subjected to mass deportation efforts as the Trump administration strives for "a 100% American workforce," Secretary of Agriculture 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."
President Donald Trump last week in Iowa said he's willing to let migrant laborers stay in the U.S. if the farmers they work for will vouch for them. He added he was working with the Homeland Security Department to help farmers who depend on migrant laborers for their seasonal needs.
Speaking at a press conference outside her department’s office, Rollins was asked about Trump suggesting some kind of "temporary pass" for illegal migrant farm workers.
After saying Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer and her team were working on the H-2A visa program as it relates to farm workers, Rollins said she "can't underscore enough. There will be no amnesty."
Earlier, Rollins was asked whether she had concerns over how mass deportations could affect the farm 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."
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 said. "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."
The secretary said the farm industry needs "automation, also some reform within the current governing structure."
"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," she said.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro, Sens. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders were among officials at the press conference announcing the launch of the National Farm Security Action plan to protect farmland and food supply from foreign threats.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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