Who Is Brooke Rollins? Inside the Conservative Powerhouse Shaping 2024 Policy Debates

WASHINGTON, July 8 — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Tuesday vowed “no amnesty” for unauthorized farmworkers as the Trump administration presses ahead with nationwide immigration raids, a stance that has rattled growers who rely heavily on migrant labor. Key points • Rollins insists the farm sector can transition to a “100 percent American workforce” through automation, welfare-to-work programs and streamlined guest-worker visas. • She confirmed the White House is drafting an executive order to claw back U.S. farmland owned by “foreign adversaries,” singling out Chinese-controlled agribusiness giants Syngenta and Smithfield Foods. • Rollins will join the inter-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to fast-track reviews of agriculture-sector deals that raise national-security flags. Immigration crackdown worries producers Fruit, vegetable and livestock operations estimate that as much as half of their field labor lacks legal status. Industry groups say mass deportations could hollow out crews at the height of harvest, straining food supplies and driving up grocery prices. Rollins countered that 34 million “able-bodied adults” on Medicaid could fill the gap if states expand work-requirement pilots. Grower associations are lobbying for a two-year transition window and streamlined H-2A visas, but Rollins signaled limited appetite for carve-outs. “The era of turning a blind eye is over,” she told reporters outside USDA headquarters. Foreign-land ban takes shape Twenty-six states already restrict foreign ownership of farmland; only 3.4 percent of U.S. acreage is foreign-held, with Canada holding the largest share. Even so, Rollins said Beijing-linked entities pose “an unacceptable strategic risk” near military bases and grain-export hubs. Expect a multi-agency push: 1. Mapping parcels tied to adversarial nations. 2. Empowering USDA to block or unwind leases. 3. Coordinating with DOJ and Treasury to force divestitures via CFIUS. Automation and innovation incentives To offset labor shortages, USDA will redirect specialty-crop grants toward robotics, vision-guided harvesters and autonomous dairy parlors. A forthcoming “Fields of the Future” tax credit will cover up to 40 percent of qualifying automation costs, according to senior officials. What’s next • Executive order on foreign farmland ownership could surface “within weeks.” • DHS is finalizing new enforcement guidelines for farm-site audits. • Senate Agriculture Committee will grill Rollins on Sept. 10 about the plan’s impact on food inflation and rural economies. Bottom line Brooke Rollins is reshaping U.S. farm policy with a hard-line immigration stance and aggressive national-security lens on land ownership. Growers face a tight timeline to adapt—or risk being caught between immigration sweeps and a shrinking labor pool.