Reynolds Seeks to Join Discussions on Trump’s Plan for Undocumented Ag Workers

By  Robin Opsahl

Gov. Kim Reynolds said Tuesday that Iowa officials have contacted the White House to be involved in discussions on how to keep immigrant agricultural workers in the country.

The governor spoke about the budget reconciliation bill Tuesday outside the Iowa Capitol with Bob Quinn, host of The Big Show, a farm radio show on WHO Radio. Reynolds, Lt. Gov. Chris Cournoyer and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig attended the show’s Sweet Corn Day event, which included discussions on the radio program as well as sweet corn provided by Titan Goodyear Tires.

Both Reynolds and Naig sat down for interviews with Quinn at the event. While the state officials did talk about their love for corn, they also talked about other issues impacting Iowa’s agriculture sector — including a proposal introduced by President Donald Trump during remarks at the Iowa State Fairgrounds Thursday on allowing farm workers without legal status to stay in the country with support from their employers.

Trump said at the event that the issue was brought up by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, who had said the Trump administration’s mass deportations have negatively impacted farms and agricultural businesses in the country. Trump said he’s working on legislation with Rollins and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem that would aid these impacted businesses and farms by allowing employers to vouch for their undocumented employees to allow them to remain in the country.

“We figured it out, and we have some great stuff being written,” Trump said. “And let the farmers be responsible.”

Reynolds told Quinn that Iowa has reached out to the Trump administration to be involved in the discussions of this policy, and to “actually continue to highlight how important it is so that we get this right.”

“Secretary Rollins has done a great job of just pointing out the need in agriculture for this outside labor — a lot of them being there year after year after year,” Reynolds said. “And it’s how we make things work. So it’s really important to the industry that we’re able to maintain that.”

The governor added that these discussions were something that should follow having a secure U.S. border, but said that because of the Trump administration’s actions on immigration law and border security, the country is in a place where stakeholders can have a “robust conversation” about what a program would look like to allow some workers to remain in the country.

Reynolds: Cuts in Federal Legislation Will Hit Other States Harder

Reynolds also said Iowa is equipped to deal with federal funding cuts made in the “big, beautiful bill” signed by Trump last week. Reynolds has praised Republicans in Congress for getting the measure to Trump’s desk, saying Thursday after the measure passed the U.S. House that it “reflects what everyday Americans believe — work should be rewarded, laws should be enforced, and government should get out of the way.”

The measure makes the 2017 tax cuts approved during Trump’s first term, and increases spending for federal immigration enforcement efforts. It also includes spending cuts for public assistance programs, implementing Medicaid work requirements and shifting some funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) from the federal government to states — changes hunger and health care advocates say will hurt people in need across the country.

However, Reynolds argued these changes will have a smaller impact on Iowa than in other states. Iowa has already moved forward to implement Medicaid work requirements on a state level through a law signed this session and a waiver request submitted to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in April that include similar requirements to what was outlined in the budget reconciliation bill.

Many advocates have talked about how the changes to Medicaid will also mean less money for health care providers, prompting concerns in Iowa about further closures of rural hospitals and health care providers. Reynolds said she believes some of these concerns can be addressed through provisions passed in her rural health care bill, which includes measures to seek more federal funding to implement a “hub-and-spoke” model to create more regionalized rural health care services that provide easier access to general and specialized care.

“That will really help make sure that no matter where you live in the state of Iowa, especially in rural Iowa, that you have access to high quality health care,” Reynolds said.

She said she has also reached out to the federal government on this topic. Iowa’s existing Centers of Excellence Program is a model for this health care system, Reynolds said, which she said could show the administration how giving states flexibility, “alongside the funding,” could help improve rural health care availability.

She also said Iowa is working to address SNAP payment errors, the metric used that would trigger states’ payment for SNAP benefits under the law. States with payment error rates above 6%, as assessed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, would be required to pay into the system beginning in 2028.

Iowa’s payment error rate in Fiscal Year 2024 was 6.14% — just above the cutoff. Only eight states — Idaho, Nebraska, Nevada, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming were below the threshold in FY 2024.

Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: [email protected]. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.