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Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is defending her efforts to waive deportation proceedings for workers in farming, meatpacking, and restaurants.
According to The New York Times, she successfully convinced President Trump to hold off on removing illegal alien workers in those sectors. Shortly afterward, hoteliers won a similar pause, marking clear exceptions to previously announced enforcement plans.
Reports say Trump’s concessions coincided with mention of a migration-for-minerals arrangement with China, raising eyebrows among his base. A backlash grew among online supporters who felt betrayed by this retreat from a hard-line stance. Critics argue that granting certain employers special treatment undermines the rule of law, questioning why these industries deserve preferential treatment when others do not.
Rollins took to X to defend the decision, affirming the broad goal of deporting all illegal alien workers while arguing that disrupting food production would harm households. She said maintaining a legal agricultural workforce is crucial and described her work as consistent with Trump’s America First agenda:
“I fully support President Trump’s America First immigration agenda as stated in his campaign, starting with strong border security and deportations of EVERY illegal alien. This agenda is essential to fixing a broken farm-labor economy and restoring integrity to the American workforce. The President and I have consistently advanced a “Farmers First” approach, recognizing that American households depend upon a stable and LEGAL agricultural workforce. Severe disruptions to our food supply would harm Americans. It took us decades to get into this mess and we are prioritizing deportations in a way that will get us out. This administration is undeniably focused on the America First agenda and my work at the Department of Agriculture is no different.”
However, Rollins didn’t address the push toward automation, which began when Trump first restricted foreign labor in 2017. After the 2017 immigration clampdown, many meatpacking companies invested in robotics and other technologies, but those efforts slowed when labor restrictions eased under Biden. Rollins also didn’t acknowledge that farmers can already use the H‑2A visa program to hire seasonal workers legally, nor did she mention emerging clean‑tech agriculture that mines fewer migrant workers.
One source pointed out that this exemption risks empowering investors who prefer cheap, illegal labor over technological upgrades. They argue that instead of broad pauses, enforcement should be used to urge firms to adopt E-Verify and to prepare for the loss of illegal staff. Vice President J.D. Vance echoed this sentiment, stating that reliance on low-wage migrants has affixed a “drug” to businesses, undermining innovation.
There are also concerns about visa misuse in the hotel industry, where many franchise owners of Indian origin use business visitor visas (B‑1/B‑2) to import workers. Critics argue that this practice sidelines Americans and legal workers, making it more difficult for domestic job seekers to enter the industry and secure business opportunities.
Opponents warn that Rollins’ exemptions could depress turnout from Trump’s core supporters ahead of the 2026 election. They say promises of tough immigration elsewhere are ring-fence components of his base being shut out. Meanwhile, Trump’s mention of linking migrant permits to China in a broader trade proposal, spotted earlier this month, adds another dimension to the policy shift.
