Brooke Rollins is a longtime policy strategist on the Trump side of the GOP — part think tank architect, part on-camera combatant, part “America First” messenger. She comes out of Texas politics and conservative policy shops, and she helped build the America First Policy Institute to turn Trump-era themes into a governing agenda. As Secretary of Agriculture, she applies that same lens to food, land, and labor: secure the border, confront China, and put America first in the supply chain.
Rollins pushes a hard line on agricultural labor and immigration, rejecting legalization or “amnesty” for undocumented farmworkers and arguing the U.S. should rely on a domestic workforce — even if growers warn that deportations will break entire harvesting systems. She links the farm economy to national identity and border enforcement, not just crop yields.
At the same time, she’s become the public face of the fight over food assistance. She warns that the safety net is being abused and insists that social spending must be tied to work and discipline, framing it as moral clarity rather than austerity. Her message is that the Department of Agriculture isn’t just farms — it’s culture, borders, and who deserves help.
Right-Wing Populist
Priorities / Influence
- Hardline on Immigration: Rollins backs mass deportation of undocumented agricultural labor and rejects legalization plans, saying the goal is a “100% American workforce.”
- Work Requirements for Aid: She ties nutrition programs like SNAP to work and employability, arguing the welfare state is bloated and ripe for abuse, and that “able-bodied” Americans should fill farm jobs rather than rely on migrant labor.
- Food Security as National Security: She frames farmland, crop production, and supply chains as sovereignty issues — saying foreign land ownership and dependency on imported labor are strategic vulnerabilities.
- Anti-Blue State Narrative: On camera, Rollins blends food policy with culture war, accusing urban Democrats of letting crime, drugs, and border chaos drive hunger while blaming Republicans for the fallout.
- America First Agriculture: She talks about bringing processing, fertilizer, feed, slaughter, and distribution back under U.S. control — not just growing crops here, but keeping the whole value chain inside the country.
Controversies
- Labor Reality vs. Rhetoric: Farm groups say deporting undocumented workers without a legal alternative could cripple harvests and spike food prices, and that “just make Americans do it” ignores how dependent U.S. agriculture actually is on migrant labor.
- SNAP Leverage: Opponents say she’s using the threat of benefit cuts as political leverage during shutdown fights, weaponizing hunger to force concessions in unrelated fights over health care and immigration.
- Ideological USDA: Critics argue she’s turned USDA — historically a mix of farm service bureaucracy and anti-poverty programs — into a stage for border messaging and anti-elite populism.
- Foreign Land Ownership Crackdown: Her plan to block (and even claw back) purchases of American farmland by “foreign adversaries,” especially China, is applauded by nationalists but attacked as discriminatory and likely to trigger retaliation.
- Concentrated Power: Rollins leans into being both policy designer and TV-facing enforcer. Fans see that as clarity. Critics call it authoritarian branding dressed up as farm policy.
Senate Confirmation Vote
Votes For
- Republicans: 53
- Democrats: 18
- Independents: 1
Votes Against
- Republicans: 0
- Democrats: 27
- Independents: 1