Transcript
Brooke Rollins (0:00)
White House. And we'll be looking at multiple different authorities within the federal government to begin to claw that back. So that's what I'll say about that. Again, I think I answered the second question where we are on farm labor a little bit earlier. But what I will say is that Lori Chavez Durimer is our secretary of labor and the H2A visa program, all of the programs that inure to moving in seasonal ag workers are under Secretary Chavez Durimer. She has been working, working around the clock with her team. I think we'll probably hear a little bit more about this today and the conversations will continue. But I can't underscore enough. There will be no amnesty, the mass deportations continue, but in a strategic way. And we move the workforce towards automation and 100% American participation, which again, with 34 million people, able bodied adults on Medicaid, we should be able to do that fairly quickly. Thank you.
Kate Goodell (0:57)
One more question. Hi, thanks for doing this. Kate Goodell with the Washington Post. I'm wondering if you can perhaps spell out some of the specific threats that we're seeing with Chinese farmland at the moment. I also wanted to ask about the legislative efforts and what form the executive action might take and whether you have a timeline.
Brooke Rollins (1:18)
Well, first on American farmland, I'd love for Peter to add to this and if anyone else would like to as well. When you look at the chart which is behind, by the way, our new deputy secretary, Secretary Steven Vaden started yesterday from the great state of Tennessee, Governor Lee, you can see on this chart the hundreds of thousands. And by the way, this is just China owned. This is not other countries of concern owned such as North Korea, Russia, Iran and others, you can see that a lot of those, the red blocks are actual military faces. And ultimately when we're talking about national security, that is I think the number one concern certainly of this administration is what's happening there as we're looking at the threats that this country is facing. But specifically through agriculture is really, really important. Peter, I don't know if you want to add to that.
Peter Navarro (2:17)
Thanks for asking that question. If you look at the gradations of threat, that's the most obvious. I mean, how did we let that happen? How did we let that happen? Encyclious Greek word, I think, for like doing nothing. Right. But not during the Trump administration. And I can tell you nothing else happened today. Having Brooke Rollins on that board, give her a hand, that's a big deal. But if you look at the, if you look at the concept here of Unrestricted warfare that I talked a little about earlier. It's not just the idea that you can surveil troop movements, flights, all the things you would worry about just from a pure national security view. But you remember when they arrested the Chinese spies on the Iowa farmland? Y' all remember that? I mean, that was a. That was another turning point in our awareness where they were. So if they're owning the farmland, they have access to all of the. They're going to get the seeds that way, too. And so ultimately, the other thing they want to do is. Which is why they bought small Smithfield foods. I don't know if you know this, But China consumes 50% of the pork in the world. Did you know this? That's astonishing. I think we got the corner on Kentucky Fried Chicken, but they corner the pork. So when they acquire Smithfield's foods and the entire pork chain, it's like that becomes a weapon in and of itself. So the more land they acquire here, the more control they have. And it's a business model. I mean, we're the United States, but they treat us like a colony. They do the same damn thing down in Zambia with tobacco and around all of Africa, they buy land. They bring in Chinese workers to work the land, and then they ship the food back to China, and the people around them starve or pay higher prices. So when you ask us, what's this about? It's about everything. Food security is national security. Thank you.