Photo: Alamy
Vice President J.D. Vance on Wednesday touched on the heated topic of amnesty, noting it was not the aim of this administration to implement such a policy.
“What the president has said is number one – we’re not going to do amnesty. We’re actually NOT going to tell people who have come into this country illegally that they’re allowed to break our laws and be rewarded for it,” Vance remarked during a discussion at the “Hill and Valley Forum.”
Vance additionally discussed potential solutions for agricultural companies that are concerned about a diminished workforce as illegal workers are deported.
“Well, there are a whole host of ways in which you can try to solve those problems. My favorite solution for those problems is automation,” Vance continued. “I actually think there’s a lot of evidence that the American agricultural economy is a little behind the eight ball when it comes to using technology. There are ways where we are talking about facilitating the use of automation.”
The conversation surrounding illegal farm workers has been brewing for weeks, in the wake of comments from President Trump regarding pending legislation that could address the balance between a demand for workers and the need for immigration enforcement.
“There’s no amnesty,” Trump said in early July. “But we are doing a work program.”
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, like Vice President Vance, has leaned heavily into a push for increased automation, while describing the balance between mass deportations and agricultural workers as “strategic.”
On Wednesday, Vance took his comments a step further while addressing the attitude in the U.S. regarding American-born workers. According to Newsweek, Vance raised an eyebrow at big tech companies applying for overseas visas through the H-1B work program, which seems to prioritize foreign-born applicants.
“That displacement and that math worries me a bit,” he said. “And what the president has said, he said very clearly: We want the very best and the brightest to make America their home. We want them to build great companies and so forth. But I don’t want companies to fire 9,000 American workers and then to go and say, ‘We can’t find workers here in America.’ That’s a bullshit story.”