Ag sec. suggests Medicaid recipients could replace deported farmworkers

President Donald Trump clarified his position on a migrant farmworker program during this week’s cabinet meeting, stating that farmers will have an avenue to keep migrants in the U.S. without legal documentation on their payroll amid ongoing mass deportations. However, he emphasized that this does not constitute amnesty. Since the prospect of mass deportations was introduced, farmers have warned that it could severely reduce their labor force. 

Some farmers told Reuters fear of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids is already deterring migrant workers, resulting in unharvested crops. Migrants comprise as much as 86 percent of the nation’s agricultural labor.

Deportations proceed as work program details remain unclear

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Tuesday, July 7, that while a migrant labor program is in development, the long-term goal is to transition to a fully American workforce as the industry moves more toward “automation.” She noted that able-bodied Americans now subject to new Medicaid work requirements could fill agricultural labor shortages.

“The mass deportations continue but in a strategic way as we move the workforce toward automation and 100% American participation,” Rollins said. “And again, with 34 million able-bodied adults on Medicaid, we should be able to do that fairly quickly.”

The administration has suggested for weeks the creation of a work program or temporary deportation passes for migrants in critical industries such as farming and hospice care.

Trump said at an Iowa rally last week, “If a farmer is willing to vouch for these people in some way, I think we’re going to have to just say that’s going to be good, right? We’re going to be good with it. Because we don’t want to take all the workers off the farms. We want the farms to do great like they’re doing now.”

Administration moves to streamline labor programs

During Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said the administration is working to streamline the existing H-2A visa program, which helps American farmers fill labor gaps by hiring foreign workers.

“What the Department of Labor is focusing on is what the law entails now, being more modernized and streamlined, to work through the “H” programs,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “We have developed a new office to address the needs of farmers, ranchers and producers.”

The Labor Department said it is enhancing existing programs while Trump has proposed new legislation or workforce initiatives. Details on a new program or legislation remain limited, with the Administration only reiterating it would put farmers in charge.