An age of automation is coming, whether Americans are ready for it or not
The Trump administration is looking to increase automation to address labor shortages amid mass deportation of illegal migrants and a rising push to decrease legal immigration
Opinion-editorial by Summer Lane | July 25, 2025
A resounding message has echoed through Washington over the past few weeks, reiterated by USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins and Vice President J.D. Vance: automation is the path forward for many industries, for better or for worse.
The topic of increased automation in the American agricultural industry was raised recently when rumors arose that the Trump administration was considering an amnesty deal for illegal farm workers.
President Trump, Vice President Vance, and Brooke Rollins have all emphatically stated that amnesty is not in the plan.
“We’re not going to do amnesty,” Vance said this week during a forum discussion.
Rollins has strongly stated on more than one occasion that automation is the solution to waning labor forces in the aftermath of nationwide deportation efforts.
“There will be no amnesty, the mass deportations continue – but in a strategic way – and we move the workforce towards automation and 100 percent American participation,” she said in early July.
And, when it comes to a potential labor shortage due to the deportation of illegal workers, Vice President Vance has said his “favorite solution for those problems is automation.”
This, coupled with the unprecedented evolution and development of artificial intelligence technologies being funded and accelerated by the Trump administration, presents a picture of a future America that relies heavily on AI and automation in its major industries.
Cutting back on legal immigration?
With the rise in AI tech, as many as 300 million people could lose their full-time jobs in America in the coming years, LindellTV previously reported.
This is a staggering number, and, when coupled with exploding immigration, it begs the question: What jobs will be left for native-born American workers when AI and automation take over? Will those scant jobs that remain be given to foreign-born workers, as some have suggested, via the somewhat controversial H-1B visa program?
This is a concern Vice President Vance addressed this week during his forum discussion, when discussing Big Tech companies that may lay off thousands of American workers and then hire foreign-born employees.
Per Newsweek, Vance remarked, “That displacement and that math worries me a bit. And what the president has said, he said very clearly: We want the very best and the brightest to make America their home. We want them to build great companies and so forth. But I don’t want companies to fire 9,000 American workers and then to go and say, ‘We can’t find workers here in America.’ That’s a bullshit story.”
Couple that with a rising call to reduce legal immigration, and it seems as if the writing may be on the wall, policy-wise.
“It’s time to dramatically reduce LEGAL immigration. Automation is coming. AI is coming. We do not need more immigrants competing for American jobs,” wrote Turning Point USA President Charlie Kirk on Friday.
Kirk is not alone in his sentiments. His comments came as a response to Rep. Chip Roy’s, R-Texas, comments about immigration trends in the U.S.
“In early 2025, the foreign-born share hit a RECORD-high in 14 states, while the foreign-born population hit RECORD highs in 31 states,” the statement read. “The U.S. needs to END illegal and REDUCE legal immigration that’s sustainable for Americans.”
According to a report he cited from the Center for Immigration Studies, between 1980 and 2025, the foreign-born population in the American South, for example, has ballooned by 578 percent.
“In 1980, the foreign-born were 10 percent or more of the population in only five states. By 2025 this was the case in 21 states plus the District of Columbia,” the report said.
In an automated future, what hope is there for American workers?
This is the question that underpins every technological leap forward in AI. Thankfully, President Trump’s administration has been very strategic in its implementation of AI innovation – working to ensure that AI models remain neutrally objective, for example, and don’t contain radical biases.
But as kiosks in fast-food restaurants and coffee shops are increasingly automated, the human workforce reduction is, clearly, already underway. Automation is here to stay, whether Americans are ready for it or not.
The only question will be how many native-born Americans will have to compete with foreign workers for the waning jobs still available in the coming years. To that end, Rep. Chip Roy is right: illegal immigration must be reversed, and legal immigration should probably be reduced.
While the Trump administration has efficiently secured the southern border and halted illegal immigration, nationwide deportation efforts are still underway. It remains to be seen if a reform of the H-1B visa system is on the horizon, but it seems likely if a legal immigration system overhaul becomes an objective of the Trump administration.
Photo: Adobe Stock
