Medicaid: This was the Plan

So …force the deportation of Hispanic migrant farm workers, and replace them with “American” Medicaid recipients. Most of these potential workers would come from nearby rural areas. A significant number would be MAGA supporters of Donald Trump. His BBB policies require Medicaid recipients to work 80 hours a month to be eligible for Medicaid. So force them to work for Medicaid, and then force them to do farm labor. THIS WAS THE PLAN ALL ALONG. No consideration was given that those Medicaid recipients who are not working (most have been working already) are too sick and disabled to do farm labor.

Only problem is, rural Americans aren’t taking the farm labor jobs.

[From NPR] Reaction from farm country to Rollins’ idea has been skeptical.

MANUEL CUNHA JR: “Flat out, they’re not going to work in my industry at all. I don’t care what you pay them.” Manuel Cunha Jr. is the president of the Nisei Farmers League. He represents over 500 farmers in California’s Central Valley. He says he’s seen this movie before. In the ’90s, welfare reform brought new work requirements for people on government assistance. Cunha participated in a program trying to pair people on welfare with farm jobs. Officials identified 560 with relevant work experience and reached out to them. Out of those, Cunha says three actually took a job.

Ag secretary says able-bodied Medicaid recipients should replace immigrant farm workforce (Politico)

USDA secretary says there’s “no amnesty” from mass deportations for farm labor, but that enforcement should be “strategic.”

MARCIA BROWN 07/08/2025, 2:11PM ET

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said millions of adult Medicaid participants who will face stricter work requirements under the GOP megabill should replace foreign farm workers deported under the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

“There will be no amnesty,” Rollins said Tuesday during an event at USDA headquarters highlighting the administration’s efforts to strengthen farm and national security policy. “The mass deportations continue, but in a strategic way, and we move the workforce towards automation and 100 percent American participation.”

“With 34 million people, able-bodied adults on Medicaid, we should be able to do that fairly quickly,” she added, referencing Medicaid participants currently in the program who don’t yet meet the reconciliation package’s new work requirements.

Farmers and some lawmakers have expressed alarm over the potential impact of the administration’s deportation policies on the largely immigrant workforce that keeps the food system running. Some of President Donald Trump’s most ardent supporters have criticized the administration for giving special treatment to farms. 

MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk said Monday that an “amnesty proposal” for farmworkerswould splinter the MAGA coalition. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) joined the chorus, posting on X, “No amnesty.”

The Trump administration briefly announced a pause on immigration raids last month on farms, hotels and restaurants before backing away from the policy within days.

Rollins’ remarks came during an event at USDA headquarters to highlight the Trump administration’s moves to ban Chinese ownership of U.S. farmland and tighten scrutiny of foreign purchases of U.S. agricultural businesses.

“There are plenty of workers in America,” Rollins added.