General Discussion

LetMyPeopleVote

(174,853 posts) Tue Jul 8, 2025, 01:48 PM Jul 2025

Trump's agriculture head expects '34M able-bodied on Medicaid' to do farm work

These people are nuts

This is how far out of touch these people are ....

Trump's agriculture head expects '34M able-bodied on Medicaid' to do farm work www.rawstory.com/brooke-rolli...
— ðŸ¦‹â„ï¸ðŸBaronðŸâ„ï¸ðŸ¦‹ (@baron333.bsky.social) 2025-07-08T15:25:37.619Z

https://www.rawstory.com/brooke-rollins-medicaid-farm-workers/

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins argued that 34 million "able-bodied adults" who are at risk of losing their Medicaid benefits should be expected to take the jobs of migrants on farms.

During a Tuesday press conference, Rollins was asked about President Donald Trump's pledge to give farmers a "pass" when it came to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids.

"There will be no amnesty," Rollins insisted. "The mass deportations continue, but in a strategic way. And we move the workforce towards automation and 100% American participation, which again, with 34 million people, able-bodied adults on Medicaid, we should be able to do that fairly quickly."

16 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Trump's agriculture head expects '34M able-bodied on Medicaid' to do farm work (Original Post) LetMyPeopleVote Jul 2025 OP

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says that "able bodied" Medicaid recipients will replace the farmworkers LetMyPeopleVote Jul 2025 #1

How does someone on Medicaid in Ohio pick doc03 Jul 2025 #2

Concentration camps obamanut2012 Jul 2025 #3

Right. Build private prisons near farming communities. Send prisoners there GoodRaisin Jul 2025 #11

They become migrant farmworkers with no homes to return to -- like Dust Bowl Okies Hekate Jul 2025 #5

People in California would work in California synni Jul 2025 #7

Oh it very much is a problem that can't be dismissed newdeal2 Jul 2025 #8

I think they are going after non-disabled single adults under 65 with no dependents. valleyrogue Jul 2025 #14

Good luck with that. Will they compete with Kennedy to get people with depression and adhd hell Iris Jul 2025 #4

Damn them to well never mind 🤬 Where does she get those figures? Does it include infants? Hekate Jul 2025 #6

there are only TWO million farm workers TOTAL. WarGamer Jul 2025 #9

That woman behind her looks like Sarah Huckabee Sanders ? Hekate Jul 2025 #10

I'm already DOING "farm work" at my own house!! Won't be doing it elsewhere, sorry. Jack Valentino Jul 2025 #12

LOL!!!!!!! valleyrogue Jul 2025 #13

Your mon and dad to the fields first. Show us how it's done, set an example. nt Hotler Jul 2025 #15

Maddow Blog-Agriculture secretary suggests Medicaid recipients can replace immigrants as farmworkers LetMyPeopleVote Jul 2025 #16

LetMyPeopleVote

(174,853 posts)

1. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says that "able bodied" Medicaid recipients will replace the farmworkers

Reply to LetMyPeopleVote (Original post)

Tue Jul 8, 2025, 01:49 PM

Jul 2025

Link to tweet

doc03

(38,820 posts)

2. How does someone on Medicaid in Ohio pick

Reply to LetMyPeopleVote (Reply #1)

Tue Jul 8, 2025, 02:32 PM

Jul 2025

vegetables in California?

obamanut2012

(29,166 posts)

3. Concentration camps

Reply to doc03 (Reply #2)

Tue Jul 8, 2025, 02:40 PM

Jul 2025

They won't live in OH anymore.

GoodRaisin

(10,724 posts)

11. Right. Build private prisons near farming communities. Send prisoners there

Reply to obamanut2012 (Reply #3)

Tue Jul 8, 2025, 08:51 PM

Jul 2025

for slave labor to pick crops.

Hekate

(100,132 posts)

5. They become migrant farmworkers with no homes to return to -- like Dust Bowl Okies

Reply to doc03 (Reply #2)

Tue Jul 8, 2025, 02:47 PM

Jul 2025

synni

(673 posts)

7. People in California would work in California

Reply to doc03 (Reply #2)

Tue Jul 8, 2025, 04:11 PM

Jul 2025

People in the Midwest would work in the Midwest.

That's not the problem here.

The problem is that people applying for disability are on Medicaid CANNOT work, yet they'll be expected to.

newdeal2

(4,765 posts)

8. Oh it very much is a problem that can't be dismissed

Reply to synni (Reply #7)

Tue Jul 8, 2025, 04:14 PM

Jul 2025

Are they going to uproot their lives and move, even within the same state? If not, what if they don’t have transportation to these fields?

There’s so much to think about, but the idiots in charge have no clue.

valleyrogue

(2,568 posts)

14. I think they are going after non-disabled single adults under 65 with no dependents.

Reply to synni (Reply #7)

Tue Jul 8, 2025, 09:19 PM

Jul 2025

Until ACA, single adults with no health issues could not get Medicaid..

It is a backdoor attempt to undermine the ACA, which expanded Medicaid for those people.

From what I see, anybody who is disabled, and especially over 65, will not be subject to work requirements.

Iris

(16,844 posts)

4. Good luck with that. Will they compete with Kennedy to get people with depression and adhd hell

Reply to LetMyPeopleVote (Original post)

Tue Jul 8, 2025, 02:43 PM

Jul 2025

He wants in his fresh air rehab camps?

Hekate

(100,132 posts)

6. Damn them to well never mind 🤬 Where does she get those figures? Does it include infants?

Reply to LetMyPeopleVote (Original post)

Tue Jul 8, 2025, 03:00 PM

Jul 2025

This thinking is beyond me

WarGamer

(18,249 posts)

9. there are only TWO million farm workers TOTAL.

Reply to LetMyPeopleVote (Original post)

Tue Jul 8, 2025, 04:16 PM

Jul 2025

Hekate

(100,132 posts)

10. That woman behind her looks like Sarah Huckabee Sanders ?

Reply to LetMyPeopleVote (Original post)

Tue Jul 8, 2025, 08:33 PM

Jul 2025

Jack Valentino

(4,350 posts)

12. I'm already DOING "farm work" at my own house!! Won't be doing it elsewhere, sorry.

Reply to LetMyPeopleVote (Original post)

Tue Jul 8, 2025, 09:06 PM

Jul 2025

And there AREN'T "34 million" able-bodied adults on Medicaid who don't ALREADY have jobs....

or would this be an admission by a Trump cabinet officer that
they intend to COMPLETELY destroy Medicaid ??

valleyrogue

(2,568 posts)

13. LOL!!!!!!!

Reply to LetMyPeopleVote (Original post)

Tue Jul 8, 2025, 09:16 PM

Jul 2025

The lazy shits at the top of the economic heap should have their Trump tax breaks expire.

Hotler

(13,735 posts)

15. Your mon and dad to the fields first. Show us how it's done, set an example. nt

Reply to LetMyPeopleVote (Original post)

Tue Jul 8, 2025, 09:43 PM

Jul 2025

LetMyPeopleVote

(174,853 posts)

16. Maddow Blog-Agriculture secretary suggests Medicaid recipients can replace immigrants as farmworkers

Reply to LetMyPeopleVote (Original post)

Wed Jul 9, 2025, 08:40 AM

Jul 2025

If the Trump administration is counting on Americans on Medicaid replacing immigrants on farms, officials should probably start working on a Plan B.

Agriculture secretary suggests Medicaid recipients can replace immigrants as farmworkers.
If the Trump administration is counting on Americans on Medicaid replacing immigrants on farms, officials should probably start working on a Plan B.
www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
— hateGOP (@hategop.bsky.social) 2025-07-08T21:36:08.484Z

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/agriculture-secretary-suggests-medicaid-recipients-can-replace-immigra-rcna217572

Soon after, Team Trump reversed course, and then reversed course yet again. As recently as last week, the president talked about developing a temporary pass for immigrants who work on farms, which was the opposite of what his “border czar” said a week earlier.

This week, as Reuters reported, the moving target moved again:

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Tuesday that there will be ‘no amnesty’ for agricultural workers from the Trump administration’s efforts to deport all immigrants in the country illegally. The farm sector has warned that mass deportation of farm workers would disrupt the U.S. food supply.

To be sure, the Cabinet secretary’s comments were newsworthy, though if recent history is any guide, a prominent White House official, including possibly Donald Trump himself, will contradict Rollins very soon.

But of particular interest was something else the agriculture secretary said.
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4llrhdclvdlmmynkwsmg5tdc/post/3lthhwchvtw2h

Link to tweet

“I can’t emphasize this enough,” Rollins said. “There will be no amnesty; the mass deportations continue, but in a strategic way; and we move the workforce toward automation and 100% American participation, which with 34 million able-bodied adults on Medicaid, we should be able to do fairly quickly.”

In other words, as the agriculture secretary sees it, there’s no need for concern about farmers losing out on immigrant labor because those workers can be replaced thanks to “automation” and Medicaid beneficiaries......

But what I find myself stuck on is Rollins’ quote in the context of the Republicans’ domestic policy megabill. GOP policymakers approved sweeping and unprecedented cuts to Medicaid, arguing that Americans who lose coverage can simply get jobs that offer health insurance.

It’s against this backdrop that the secretary of agriculture suggested that Medicaid beneficiaries — whose coverage is at risk — can replace immigrants as farmworkers, brushing past the inconvenient fact that farmworkers tend not to get health care coverage.

All of which is to say, if the administration is counting on Americans on Medicaid replacing immigrants on farms, officials should probably start working on a Plan B.

Reply to this discussion