Photo: Alamy
Amid wildfire rumors and rumblings among top conservative voices that prominent influences in the White House are pushing for an amnesty deal for illegal farm workers, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins on Tuesday confirmed that this is not the case.
“There’s been a lot of noise in the last few days and a lot of questions about where the president stands…the president has been unequivocal that there will be no amnesty,” she said during a press conference in Washington.
Reports of potential amnesty emerged after the president’s comments last week in Iowa, in which he hinted at legislation that could provide a pathway to maintain illegal farm workers in the U.S., due to concerns about disrupting the domestic supply chain.
“We’re working on legislation right now where, farmers – look, they know better, they work with them for years…we’ve got to work with the farmers, and people who have hotels and leisure properties too. We’re going to work with them, and we’re going to work very strong and smart,” Trump said during his speech.
These comments ignited debate and concern among staunch advocates of deportation and America First policies.
“If you want to break out coalition, go and push amnesty,” said Turning Point USA President Charlie Kirk this week. “That right there would be a complete collapse of everything that we have worked for.”
Secretary Rollins’ comments on Tuesday lent clarity to the conversation, noting that the president was committed to a “100 percent American workforce” backed by automation, but voiced concerns about disrupting the domestic food supply chain.
She said the ultimate answer to replacing the illegal workforce lay in such automation and “also within some reform within the current governing structure.”
“…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 percent American workforce,” Rollins said.
Rollins stated that she looked to Congress for upcoming work on reforming the current immigration system.