Rollins: No Amnesty For Undocumented Farm Workers

This week, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins promised to find a balance between deporting undocumented farmworkers while not disrupting the agricultural supply chains they support.

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins: “Ultimately, the answer on this is automation. Also some reform within the current governing structure. And then also when you think about, 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, … So no amnesty under any circumstances. Mass deportations continue, but in a strategic and intentional way, as we move our workforce toward more automation and toward a 100% American workforce. 

Sec. Rollins comments echo statements made by President Trump in a stop in Iowa last week:

President Donald Trump: “Everybody agrees that we're finding the criminals, the murderers, the drug dealers. We're getting them the hell out of here. But the farmers, some of the farmers, many of you sitting right here, I have f- four friends right in the fifth row. But some of the farmers were -- You know, they've had people working for 'em for years, and we're gonna do something.”

The LA Times is reporting that the Nisei (NEE-say) Farmers League, a farm labor advocacy group, is skeptical of the idea of having Medicaid recipients harvest crops. A spokesperson made reference to failed attempts to bring unskilled labor into the mix during the 1990s under the "welfare to work “ program. 

The USDA also announced the launch of the National Farm Security Action Plan to improve the security of the county’s food system. One point of emphasis in the plan is to address concerns about foreign ownership of farmland in the United States.

 The USDA counts 876 million acres of agricultural land in the 50 U.S. states. USDA data shows over 45 million acres of American farmland as being owned by foreign investors. Investors in the EU own over 20 million acres, while Canadians 15 million acres. China is known to own only 277,000 acres of farm ground across 30 states, or roughly three tenth of one percent of American agricultural ground.

Currently, 26 U.S. states have laws that either restrict or ban foreign ownership of farmland. 

For Market to Market, I’m Peter Tubbs.

Contact: Peter.Tubbs@iowapbs.org