A recent Fox News segment featured host Charlie Hurt arguing that the U.S. government should allow children to take the agricultural jobs typically held by undocumented immigrants, specifically in response to labor shortages. The conversation took place while discussing how restrictions on immigrant labor—particularly under the stricter Trump-era immigration enforcement—are impacting farming and small businesses.
Hurt stated that when government welfare payments stop, people will be forced to take available jobs, including in agriculture and construction, roles he said have mostly gone to undocumented immigrants. He directly advocated, “Let’s permit children to take on these roles as summer jobs,” expressing astonishment that government regulations currently bar children from working in jobs like picking blueberries during the summer.
The comments were part of a broader conversation on farm labor policy and not a direct call for the replacement of immigrants with child labor at scale, though the suggestion was clear: removing regulatory barriers would allow more children to do work now typically performed by immigrant laborers.
“I grew up pulling tobacco,” he continued. “There are wonderful jobs in farming, in construction, all of this that has sort of been handed over to largely illegal aliens allowed into the country to do all this cheap labor.”
Construction? Seriously?
I had a summer construction job for about a week when I was 15 or 16. I didn’t last because it was man’s work – an adult man’s work. Those jobs are certainly not in the same category as a busboy. And I played varsity football and boxed, so I was, by no means, a creampuff.
Hurt’s comments received sharp criticism online and in several media outlets, as it revives debates over child labor regulation and policies surrounding undocumented workers in the agricultural sector.