Will Americans Pick Up The Slack of Missing Migrant Farm Workers?

Part 2 of “Trump Attempts Reversing Impacts to Farms and Economy after ICE Immigration Raids”

{Informative} {In depth}

Are missing migrant farm workers really a problem, or will Americans quickly fill the positions farmers are desperate to replace? Or is there another plan the President has to fill these vacancies and will it work?

Controversy has arisen over how America will survive without the crucial migrant workers we’ve come to so heavily depend on. While many Americans are still completely in the dark as to just how dependent we are on migrant workers (reference chart below), some suggest we’ll be fine without them, especially with AI phasing out so many industries; some suggest MAGA should fill the spots since they voted for this, and some suggest Medicaid recipients¹ are next in line to solve the problem.

Many others aren’t so sure any of these solutions will be a real, sustainable solution for making American great again, keeping food on our tables reasonably priced and having local farmers supported in the way they’d like.

Part of the Trump campaign focused on American jobs being stolen from immigrants, but the research so far says these jobs are only open because Americans generally pass on them due to their heavy workload, low pay or because they aren’t fit or qualified for them.

“Economists who study immigrant labor’s impact on the economy say that people who are in the U.S. illegally are not taking native citizens’ jobs, because the roles that these immigrant workers take on are most often positions that native workers are unwilling to fill, such as agriculture and food processing jobs.” – PBS article² (Ref³, Ref⁴)

Trump claims undocumented immigrants are 107% taking jobs from Blacks and Hispanics

You Took Our Jobs | Immigrants | One Word | Cut

“The US agriculture secretary has suggested that increased automation and forcing Medicaid recipients to work could replace the migrant farm workers being swept up in Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, despite years of evidence and policy failures that those kinds of measures are not substitutes for the immigrant labor force underpinning American agriculture.” – The Guardian⁵

Personal Insight:

Years ago, as a previous recipient of Medicaid (which provides SNAP benefits, previously known as food stamps) to jobless or low-income individuals and families, I had a similar idea. I thought, “I’m getting Medicaid because I’m out of a job and can’t afford groceries and with all of the other people doing the same thing, what if all the people who needed jobs and food…could work on farms or at least a community garden that would only require someone to show up once a month or so? Solve two problems at once, right?

Especially during the pandemic when people were losing jobs and food lines were overflowing, it seemed like a good idea. And to be clear, Medicaid already REQUIRED “able-bodied adults” to work and not turn down any jobs offered to keep receiving benefits and please rest assured these benefits are barely worth all the hassle to get them. If you do get a job, but are still below the poverty income level, you can still but qualify, but based on your current income. For example, while working at a minimum wage, part-time job, I got a mere $12 or some crazy amount in food stamps. This can vary greatly according to circumstances.

However, after I had my son, I wasn’t even considered an “able-bodied adult” due to the fact that I was the sole provider for a dependent and at least if no one else in America understands what motherhood requires, some part of the government still does. Eventually, I recognized that there was way more wrong with the system than Medicaid recipients could possibly fix and this is in part what led me to exploring “communal living” type places (which I hope and pray, I can finally start writing about soon!)

Please note as well that most Medicaid recipients who are simply getting benefits while out of a job…aren’t going to stay there any longer than they have to (nor would they stay in the fields), and the whole rest of the purpose of Medicaid is for people who generally can’t work or can’t work enough to afford basic necessities, such as disabled, pregnant, single Moms, low-income families or persons generally neglected by societies rules for making it, including racial and ethnic groups. And who aren’t old enough to qualify for MediCARE.

The number of people who qualify should be an entirely different concern for our culture and maybe that’s starting to be more recognized…

(Also, for the record, I did try to start my own garden to provide my own food until I got too sick to do so and also tried to work for gardeners, but was rejected on the basis of not being able to provide childcare for my kid, who honestly would have been happy enough helping if not being in the way or posing accident risk. But even in doing so, I was still a target for being called a burden on society, which really showed me a lot about American attitudes, including from church-goers who up until the pandemic -honestly weren’t doing that much to help, but glad to see changes happening.)

Further references for Medicaid Ref1, Ref2, Ref3,)

Moving on… If you want to hear a more professional discussion of this topic, please tune into NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday session where “Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Robin Rudowitz vice-president of the health policy organization KFF about the Trump administration idea that Medicaid enrollees could replace migrant farmworkers.”⁶

https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5463762/nx-s1-5523105-1

Missing workers are only part of the problem farmers are facing

Farming is not easy work and that’s why so many people don’t want to do it or aren’t physically capable of doing it, but beyond that, it’s still a challenge for farmers, because crops are exposed to so many varying elements that can’t be helped (too much rain, too little rain, unusual temperatures, snow, etc.) and then you have harvest season and I don’t think too many people understand how short the window is for getting that right.

On top of all that and more, farmers are being impacted by recent changes to tariffs, aid cuts and the threat of farm automation.

Tariffs References: WH.GOV (Timeline)

That’s why immigrant farm workers are hired seasonally and not expected to be full citizens, so they can go back to their country afterward.

“And the people that are unemployed right now are not going to be the ones that are going to show up on a farm and say, Hey, sign me up for manual labor 12 hours a day. We’ll get a handful, but we’re not getting people just showing up. I’d rather that. It’s more efficient for me when I can find somebody local or somebody that already has documentation to work in America, but they’re not showing up.” – Andrew Mickelsen, Potato Farmer, Idaho⁷ During the fall harvest, he hires more than 170 temporary workers.

Meanwhile, farmers are feeling the heat and took to TikTok and social media and anti-MAGA influencers are having a field day suggesting karma had come around to bite MAGA⁸ supporters and that they themselves should replace the missing immigrants in the fields.

Texas MAGA Farmers REGRET Their Vote for Trump After Losing All Their Workers…(*Language disclaimer-Please clean your mouths up, Americans and keep it family-friendly!*)

Since then, Donald Trump admits he got himself into “a little trouble” with his fan base and showed farmers he was listening and wanted to make things right by letting farmers vouch for their own workers on the basis of their word. A great way to give and get support from followers, but will ICE check with farmers before or after raids take place? … Hopefully those details will soon to follow.

‘I don’t want to take people away from the farmers.’

Still, not everyone is convinced as to ‘how’ the President is going about things. The President has a short time in office to make the major milestones of progress, but can the American people or even the American government, businesses and farmers keep up with so many changes in such a short time and be able to make adjustments that don’t leave us in a worse position? And will migrants be treated more humanely and have systems that work for their legal status and justice? Or just be seen as a means to an end?

Farmer reacts to Trump saying undocumented migrants are ‘naturally’ suited for farm work

The last suggestion would be to give more protection to legal migrant workers and to help illegal immigrants gain legal status more quickly, but that’s kind of been the problem all along, right?

Republicans are confident reforms to the H2A

https://www.profarmer.com/news/policy-update/policy-updates-trump-administration-reforming-h-2a-ag

https://sourcenm.com/2025/06/24/us-labor-secretary-tells-western-governors-she-wants-to-streamline-temporary-farmworker-visas/

In closing, I’d like to honor the memory of Jaime Alanis, a farm worker who fell from a roof trying to flee an ICE raid and later died as result of the injuries. His family described him as a, “hard-working, innocent farmer” and the sole-provider for his wife and daughter. You can read more of the story here:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/14/jaime-alanis-california-ice-raid-death

I’d also like to honor the hard-working migrants and immigrants who have provided so much to Americans. Thank you!

Proverbs 31:8-9⁹
⁸Open your mouth for the speechless,
In the cause of all who are appointed to die.
⁹Open your mouth, judge righteously,
And plead the cause of the poor and needy.

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