(Radio Iowa) – U-S Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says there will be no amnesty for workers on farms and in food production plants who’re facing deportation because they entered the U-S illegally.  “The promise to America to ensure that we have a 100% American workforce stands, but we must be strategic in how we are implementing the mass deportations so as not to compromise our food supply,” Rollins says. “Ultimately the answer on this is automation, also some reform on the governing structure.” Rollins says it’s up to congress to come up with a permanent fix to the immigration system — and she says now is not the time to compromise on the president’s promise of mass deportations.

“Then also when you think about there are 34 million able-bodied adults in our Medicaid program,” Rollins said. “There are plenty of workers in America.” The ag secretary’s comments follow President Trump hints during a speech in Iowa last Thursday that his administration was working on legislation so that farmers would be able to vouch for their migrant workers.) “Brooke Rollins brought it up and she said: ‘We have a little problem. The farmers are losing a lot of people,'” Trump said. “We figured it out and we have some great stuff being written and let the farmers be responsible.” Trump suggested farmers would be able to vouch for undocumented employees who’ve worked for them years.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins (official USDA photo)

“And I think that’s going to make a lot of people happy,” Trump said. “Now, serious radical right people who I also happen to like a lot, they may not be quite as happy, but they’ll understand — won’t they?” During a news conference in Washington, D.C. yesterday (Tuesday), Rollins said the president has been unequivocal that there will be no amnesty and mass deportations will continue in a strategic and intentional way.