A Fox host has raised eyebrows by suggesting we return to the dark ages and start making use of child labor in order to combat the low workforce numbers which are the direct result of Donald Trump’s deportation policies. Host Charlie Hurt made the comments during a discussion with his Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Rachel Compos-Duffy as well as Charlie Kirk. While talking about the labor shortage Hurt started out by complaining about the government “paying people not to work,” suggesting once Trump’s administration puts a stop to that there will be less issues, “when you stop paying people not to work they have to go out and get jobs.” “Allow children to do it!” Fox News host Charlie Hurt wants to use child labor to replace deported immigrants. pic.twitter.com/lLCvSWPpXS— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) July 28, 2025 He then went on to suggest something even more controversial when he claimed that jobs in the farming and construction industry have been “handed over” to “illegal aliens.” He suggests upping the price of products in order to allow American citizens to work such jobs before seemingly being struck with inspiration, shouting, “allow children to do it as Summer jobs.” Charlie Hurt thinks Trump should bring back child labor What an interesting way to get out of this labor shortage predicament that has been created by the Trump administration. Rather than employ people that actually want to work Hurt would rather force those who can’t work and minors to enter the workforce instead. On X people expressed disgust at Hurt’s comments. Joshua Reed Eakle wrote of MAGA, “Their ideology boils down to only two things: cruelty and regression.” Another individual on X wrote, “When your solution to a labor shortage is kids in factories, you’ve officially stopped pretending to be civilized.” Despite this it seems there is little compassion from Trump supporters who see no issue with implementing children into the workforce. Many defended the sentiment, pointing out that Hurt was talking about 15-16 year olds working a Summer job as opposed to full on 19th century child labor. One person wrote, “You want people to picture 8yr olds doing field labor when we’re talking about 15yr olds having part time jobs.” But it’s difficult to justify such an approach when it won’t even fully solve the problem. As Hurt’s co-host points out, “it’s very difficult work,” to suggest children could easily take on such labor seems deceptive. Also what are these farms supposed to do with a workforce that will be spending most of their time in school? Sure, the summer is covered, but what about the rest of the year? When it comes to the labor shortage in the U.S. there’s no easy fix, using children on farms, even if it is for a summer job, feels somewhat regressive and the work in farming and construction industries can be dangerous. Would the people advocating for children to work in such environments feel comfortable with their own kids being employed there?