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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump official suggests Medicaid recipients, automation can replace immigrant workers. California farmers disagree
Source: Los Angeles Times
Trump official suggests Medicaid recipients, automation can replace immigrant workers. California farmers disagree
Andrea Castillo, Suhauna Hussain, Jessica Garrison
Wed, July 9, 2025 at 6:00 AM EDT
7 min read
A top Trump administration official's claim that Medicaid recipients could replace farmworkers has met with pushback from California's agriculture industry, which faces the loss of its workforce amid the federal immigration crackdown.
"There will be no amnesty. The mass deportations continue, but in a strategic way," said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins at a news conference in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. "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."
Helen McGrath, whose family farms citrus and avocados in Ventura County, said Rollins' comments were insulting.
"I can confidently say that most farmers in the country either laughed out loud or were just deflated by those comments," she said. "It just shows how uninformed and out of touch some of these officials are with what food production looks like in this country."
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Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/california-farmers-medicaid-recipients-automation-100000063.html
bucolic_frolic
(54,068 posts)It takes an 8th grade mentality to pair farm work with Medicaid recipients.
Ms. Toad
(38,311 posts)Are you thinking of Medicare?
bucolic_frolic
(54,068 posts)But yes i misconceptualized the bulk of recipients.
essaynnc
(972 posts)The biggest take I got from it, as well as many others.....
"In 2023, nearly two-thirds of adults ages 19 to 64 who were covered by Medicaid were working, and more than a quarter were not working because of caregiving responsibilities, illness or disability, or because they were in school. That's according to the health policy organization KFF."
That doesn't leave too many ... able body bums .. on Medicaid to climb ladders and pick fruit! (My words, not theirs).
Hope22
(4,478 posts)Where high school graduates are drafted into a year of harvesting before proceeding to life endeavors. Added bonus the colleges and universities would lose an entire year of freshmen.
CurtEastPoint
(19,854 posts)
She looks like a mean sorority girl. And I know, I went to high school with a bunch of future look-alikes. Get her butt out picking strawberries. She wouldn't last a half hour.
BurnDoubt
(1,486 posts)kentuck
(115,119 posts)As the old saying goes, "Put their brain in a matchbox and it would roll around like a BB in a boxcar",
louis-t
(24,575 posts)have at the end of the title "and jobs bill". This one doesn't, but they think Medicaid recipients will work in the fields? Really? That's not anyone's definition of 'creating jobs'. I'm reminded of driving through parts of Ohio where you see signs saying "Joe's Restaurant...and Gentleman's Club", "Chet's Ice Cream Emporium...and Gentleman's Club", "Wiley Bait Shop...and Gentleman's Club". Allright, I made those up but those kinds of business pairings exist in Ohio.
Linda ladeewolf
(1,106 posts)Zipping up and down rows of tomatoes and lettuce? I will be so glad when people finally wise up and realize Republican politicians dont gaf about anyone who isnt themselves or rich.
allegorical oracle
(6,194 posts)at six in the morning. From six to noon they walked with bushel baskets behind a truck. As they filled their baskets, they would toss them to a guy in the truck, he would gently empty the basket and toss it back to the man on the ground. Their day ended at six that day. Don't think many Medicaid elders would last very long.
wolfie001
(7,101 posts)Many need velcro pull-on sneakers. This is pure republican hate and insanity somehow being passed off as policy from our sane-washing news media.
Karasu
(2,003 posts)on farms.
34 million my ass. These fictional numbers are going to blow up in their faces hard.
EarthFirst
(3,957 posts)sure youre going to have out of touch government officials.
wolfie001
(7,101 posts)What an ignoramus. He's never gone to a store and purchased a package of berries in his life. Think about that. So disconnected from reality.