How many times are Republicans going to try to force people who are on Medicaid into the fields to pick crops? It appears our Agriculture "Secretary" Brooke Rollins is unaware of history and is ignorant to boot. Immigrants built this nation. Immigrants take the jobs that regular Americans do not want, like picking crops in blisteringly hot fields, or in a meat-packing plant, or working on a shrimp boat at sea for three weeks at a time. But time and again, Republican try to stoke anger from their voters by claiming stupidly that immigrants are taking jobs from regular Americans or immigrants are living off the government dole. And racism gets reinforced. And there is no fucking way that America will EVER get to a "100% American workforce."
Yes, our Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins sees an easy solution to how we will replace all the immigrant farm workers we are removing from the fields. Just implement "automation." And put all those able-bodied folks soaking up Medicaid to work picking crops.
So, I would like someone to ask Sec'y Rollins to describe the automation that is waiting in the wings, all ready to be hauled into place (overnight, if we want to continue to see food in our grocery stores).
While agricultural automation is advancing, it is nowhere near a plug-and-play solution for the entire industry. Row crops like corn, wheat, and soy are already highly mechanized, but specialty crops - fresh fruits, grapes, berries, and delicate vegetables - still completely rely on human hands to harvest without destroying the produce.
So, someone needs to tell us which specific, commercially viable automation technology exists today that can pick delicate fresh produce at the speed and scale required to prevent immediate supply chain collapse.
And, when it comes to the "34 million able-bodied adults on Medicaid," here are some more realistic stats:
To estimate how many non-working, "able-bodied" adults are currently on Medicaid, researchers look closely at working-age enrollees (ages 19–64) who are subject to the new federal work requirements under the 2025 federal budget reconciliation law.
According to data tracking from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and recent independent health policy studies:
There are roughly 20 million adults enrolled in the Medicaid expansion group nationwide. The vast majority of these working-age adults already meet the standard. KFF data indicates that about 63% (or roughly 12.6 million) work at least 80 hours a month or attend school. This leaves approximately 8.3 million adults who do not meet the 80-hour monthly work requirement.But are they "able-bodied"?
While the phrase "able-bodied" is frequently used in political debate, medical and economic data reveal that most of the 8.3 million adults who aren't working face significant, verifiable barriers to employment.
According to a comprehensive Harvard/Beth Israel Deaconess analysis using federal health expenditure data, the non-working pool breaks down as follows:
Illness or Invisible Disability (About 2.7 million): Roughly one-third of the non-working group report a physical or mental illness that severely limits their ability to work. However, they are not technically classified as "disabled" under the strict rules required to receive federal Social Security (SSI/SSDI). Caregiving and Family Demands (About 2.5 to 3 million): A large portion consists of parents or adult relatives who do not work because they are primary caregivers for young children or disabled family members. True Disconnection from the Workforce (About 1.6 million): Only about 1 in 5 of the total expansion population are adults who do not work, do not meet current exemption categories (like being a student or caregiver), and are considered genuinely unemployed.The Bottom Line: Out of 20 million adults in the expansion pool, only about 1.6 million are technically "able-bodied" adults without another job, caregiving duties, school enrollment, or underlying chronic illnesses preventing employment.
But then there are other questions. For instance, how many of those live close enough to farming areas? How many have transportation? How many are suited for this kind of work? And how many, if able to work, will choose a different form of work? Also, who will train an entirely new workforce quickly?
Add to this the historical question: What about the documented failures of "Welfare-to-Work" in agriculture?
We have tried this before. When states passed aggressive anti-immigration laws in the past, they attempted exactly what Rollins is suggesting.
The Georgia & Alabama Precedents (2011): When Georgia and Alabama cracked down on immigrant farmworkers, they tried to fill the gaps with local unemployed workers and people on public assistance. It was a disaster. Farmers reported that local workers walked off the jobs after a single day due to the extreme physical demands, leaving millions of dollars in crops to rot in the fields. The Nisei Farmers League has already publicly pointed to the total failure of the 1990s "welfare-to-work" programs when trying to introduce unskilled, non-agricultural labor into heavy field production.Given that state-level experiments to replace farmworkers with domestic welfare recipients have universally resulted in rotted crops and massive financial losses, what specific structural changes make anyone think a national version will yield a different result?
So here's what needs to happen: Someone needs to hand Secretary Rollins a pair of boots, point her toward a California strawberry field in July, and ask her to demonstrate exactly how "easy" this transition is going to be. Until she can show us the hidden army of urban Medicaid recipients currently packing their bags for seasonal field labor, or unveil the magical, delicate-fruit-picking robots waiting in a secret USDA warehouse, she needs to stop trading agrarian fantasy for economic reality. Our food supply chain isn't a startup pitch; you can't disrupt it with buzzwords without leaving the country hungry.
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This KFF report is titled "Tracking Implementation of the 2025 Reconciliation Law Medicaid Work Requirements":
This GoodRx article is titled "How to Meet the Medicaid Work Requirement: A State-by-State Guide":
This Guardian article is titled "US agriculture secretary says Medicaid recipients can replace deported farm workers. Brooke Rollins also claimed automation can replace the immigrant labor force despite repeated evidence of failure":
Here is a YouTube short of Brooke Rollins stating the President's and her policy on replacing immigrant farmworkers with automation and Medicaid recipients:
This Center for American Progress piece is titled "Top 10 Reasons Alabama’s New Immigration Law Is a Disaster for Agriculture. Major Industry Will Rot Under Law’s Provisions":
This article from America's Voice is titled "Georgia’s 2011 Anti-Immigrant Law Left ‘Crops Rotting in the Fields.’ Trump Wants To Make It Worse ":
Here is a PBS NewHour video titled "Alabama Immigration Law Spells Trouble for Farmers":
Here is the Harvard/Beth Israel Deaconess analysis about the non-working pool of Medicaid recipients, from The American Journal of Managed Care:
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