How ethnic stereotypes underlie Trump's agricultural vision

The Trump administration promises to spell out its vision for America's agriculture, but in the meantime, the president indicated on Tuesday that land should be owned by some Americans and farmed by migrant workers. Why it matters: The debate over who can farm America's land has been historically linked to racism, xenophobia and, oftentimes, exploitation of farmers of color. Driving the news: In response to the worker shortage on farmlands, President Trump said on CNBC that his administration will release new policies on migrant farm labor while suggesting that migrants are "naturally" designed for farm work. "People that live in the inner city are not doing that work. They've tried, we've tried, everybody tried. They don't do it. These people do it naturally. Naturally," Trump said. Labor leader Dolores Huerta told Axios in a phone interview on Tuesday that it's all "racism and discrimination" and it's nothing new. She said growers used to claim farmworkers were naturally suited to using short‑handled hoes because they "were closest to the ground."That is until the United Farm Workers nonprofit that Huerta co-founded with César Chávez petitioned to ban the short‑handled hoe in the 1970s.She said Chinese laborers drained the land in California's San Joaquin Valley to make it usable for agriculture and then the Chinese immigrants were later deported using the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882."And so, you know this racism against the Chinese, the Mexicans, the Filipinos, the Punjabis, it's all based on people's color of their skin and the fact that they're from other countries," Huerta said.The other side: White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Axios Trump is a "tireless advocate for American farmers" who trusts them and "is committed to ensuring they have the workforce needed to remain successful."She added, "There will be no safe harbor" for those she called "criminal illegal aliens."Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins also said on Fox Business on Tuesday that the department "will look at" whether Chinese Americans are allowed to purchase farmland in the U.S."Obviously, if someone has been here multiple generations, there's no issue. That's something that this committee and others will look at," Rollins said while referring to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States led by the Treasury Department. Reality check: As of 2023, Chinese entities and individuals own about 277,000 acres of land in the U.S., less than 1% of all U.S. agricultural land held by foreign persons, according to a report from the USDA.Despite the small percentage of land ownership, at least 28 states have laws that seek to restrict, to some degree, foreign ownership or investments in private agricultural land, according to the National Agricultural Law Center. Flashback: Blocking certain foreign-born residents from owning America's farmland was prevalent during World War II in America.Decades before, California had passed the Alien Land Law, which was primarily aimed at prohibiting Japanese immigrants from owning farm land. During WWII, California filed almost 80 cases against Japanese immigrant farmers, seizing land and money worth around $250,000 from them and their families. The law was overturned in 1952 by the state Supreme Court.Florida enacted a similar law in 1926 targeting Asian immigrants. The law was repealed in 2018 after multiple failed attempts in the 2000s.Our thought bubble: Mexican immigrants and Mexican American migrant farm workers have been subjected to racial stereotypes and discrimination throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, Axios' Russell Contreras says.In mass deportations during the 1930s and 1950s, Latino farmworkers were subjected to exploitation, targeting and fears of expulsion, which kept wages low and discouraged unionization.The bottom line: The control over farmland is an emblematic issue that reflects the American public's attitude toward immigrants.

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