Television host and “Dirty Jobs” star Mike Rowe exposed a parallel between slavery and Democrats’ view of illegal immigrant workers.
Rowe appeared on a podcast interview with conservative commentator Benny Johnson on Friday, in which Johnson spoke about his recent brush with liberals in Los Angeles.
Johnson recently interviewed a number of them in Santa Monica, California, asking them about President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
🚨Mike Rowe slams Democrats, saying they welcome criminal illegal aliens to exploit them for labor; demands this modern-day slavery be exposed:
“Before we ban it, show it. Asking who’s gonna pick our fruit in 2025 is no different from who is gonna pick out cotten in 1860.” pic.twitter.com/6ywPge0kzY
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) May 9, 2025
“‘Who’s going to pick our fruit?’ I kept hearing it,” Johnson said.
“You don’t just hear it from the libs on the street. You can hear it from the highest echelons of the Democrat Party: If we deport all of the usury labor — the exploitative slave labor — then no American will ever do the job,” Johnson said.
Rowe agreed with Johnson.
“It’s such an obvious link. Who’s going to pick our fruit in 2025 is no different than ‘Who’s going to pick our cotton’ in 1860. It’s no different,” Rowe said. “It’s the same question.”
“The degree to which that guy’s a slave or that’s an indentured servant, or that’s an alien — right? All of those things require us to stick our head in the sand, and be okay with the fact that the clothes we’re wearing were made possible by a workforce that has been horribly misused. You’re either okay with it, or you’re not,” Rowe said.
Acknowledging Rowe’s parallel to slavery, Johnson asked if such “exploitative, criminal, alien labor” should be banned.
“I believe, before we ban it, we should show it. We should make it clear, that people understand exactly how the machine works,” Rowe answered.
“I’m not going to mouth off and say, ‘Yes, we should ban this type of labor,’” Rowe later added. “I’m saying, let’s have a conversation about who’s buttering our bread, and what it looks like, and what we’re paying for it. Let’s really understand it.”
Others in conservative media have drawn similar conclusions to Rowe’s regarding slavery and Democrat policy on immigration.
This is how @JasmineForUS views illegal immigrants…as the new slave labor? Gross.
Full show: https://t.co/jf34coIwNS pic.twitter.com/1gGvhsHOOb
— Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) April 8, 2025
Commentator Tomi Lahren posted a clip in April of Texas Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett comparing illegal immigrants to cotton-picking slaves.
“I had to go around the country and educate people about what immigrants do for this country, or the fact that we are a country of immigrants. The fact is, ain’t none of y’all trying to go out and farm right now,” Crockett said. “You’re not. You’re not. We done pickin’ cotton.”
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