COCHRANE, Wis. — Dozens of calves groan as Ermenegildo, a young Mexican farm worker, pushes a cart filled with bottles of milk. He attached a bottle to each calf’s wooden pen and walked up and down the rows as the calves gulped down the milk within minutes. The dairy farm’s 600 cows produce 5,000 gallons of milk per day, which is trucked to a cooperative-owned plant in Minnesota for processing into cheese.
Farm manager John Rosenau estimates that at least 90% of workers on Wisconsin dairy farms work without permits, and credits immigrant labor with keeping his business afloat. He said 25 years ago, when he couldn’t find Americans to do the work, he turned to Mexican immigrants.
Rosenow now believes that if Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump follows through on his campaign promise to carry out mass deportations, the $45 billion dairy industry in the nation’s second-largest milk-producing state would be devastated. I’m thinking of becoming deaf.
“That would basically destroy it,” Rosenow said. “There will be a shortage and prices will be very high and will remain so for quite some time.”
But President Trump pledged to end what he called the “massive immigrant incursion” into Wisconsin while campaigning in the key battleground state. “They come into the country illegally, they take everyone’s jobs, and they don’t know who they’re hiring,” he said. “Our country is being destroyed.” Pro-Trump signs line the road near Rosenow’s farm.
Rosenau, a Democrat, said local farmers who support President Trump don’t think the candidate means what he says about mass deportations. When Trump was president, there was great fear in immigrant communities, and most farmers Rosenow knew lost several employees and fled the country. But after about six months, they started coming back.
“It’s like a lot of things in politics,” Rosenau said. “Rhetoric and reality are two different things.”
Immigration is one of the biggest issues shaping the race between President Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. Both sides have promised increased controls at the southern border, but President Trump has vowed to launch an unprecedented effort to deploy the National Guard to send back millions of illegal immigrants.
“When you talk about mass deportation of any group, I think there will be a ripple effect throughout the economy. Agriculture will be affected, as will many other industries in the country,” Tyler said. Mr. Wentzlaff is the national director of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation.
Dairy farms could be among the hardest hit if mass deportations occur.
This work is typically done in rural areas with declining populations, and is grueling and long. The National Milk Producers Federation says dairy farmers have difficulty recruiting and retaining native-born employees, with immigrants making up half of all workers.
Last year, the University of Wisconsin estimated that more than 10,000 undocumented workers were employed on Wisconsin dairy farms. In Minnesota, home to an estimated 81,000 immigrants without legal status, Attorney General Keith Ellison has ordered the owner of a Stearns County dairy farm to withhold at least $3 million in unpaid profits from undocumented immigrant employees. The state’s dairy industry’s dependence on such labor came to light after a lawsuit was filed. .
“I’m all for it,” said George Brownreiter, a retiree and Trump supporter who lives near Alma, Wisconsin. [immigration] As long as it is legal, if it is not legal then they have to suffer the consequences. We have laws and regulations and people should follow them. There can be no wrongdoing. ”
He said illegal immigration hurts everyone because immigrants are willing to work for lower wages than people who are here legally.
Matt Bocklund, a Republican activist from Hudson, Wisconsin, said in a statement that the Biden administration’s border policies and the State Department’s refugee resettlement efforts are aimed at exploiting the agricultural industry, where many refugees and immigrants are vulnerable due to a weak workforce. He said it could lead to. Protection and its legal status. That puts a strain on rural communities, many of which are already facing economic strain, he said.
He suggests creating incentives for farmers to use only legal labor. Provide tax incentives, job training and, in some cases, wage subsidies to encourage American workers to take jobs currently held by immigrants. It would incentivize investment in automation through tax credits and subsidies, while penalizing farmers who hire unlicensed workers.
In 2020, 62% of Buffalo County, where Rosenow’s farm is located, supported Trump. And Wisconsin’s largest milk-producing county also supported the Republican candidate by a wide margin. Trump lost the last two elections in Minnesota, but 60% of voters supported him in Stearns County, the state’s largest milk producing region.
In the late 1990s, workers were hard to find, Rosenau recalls. “The only people who would respond to ads were those with major problems, such as work history, dependency issues, or being unreliable. …Most Americans would not work on a farm.”
“We were asking for help,” he said. “We looked at immigrants. And we didn’t want to do it. We didn’t know the language, we didn’t know the culture… But once we got to know them, we realized how wonderful people they are. We found them to be great workers, great people to be around, and people you’d want as neighbors.”
Currently, 13 of his 18 employees are Mexican. He filled out I-9 and W-4 forms for the workers and said they pay state and federal taxes “just like everyone else.” Federal legislative efforts have repeatedly failed to allow dairy workers to participate in the legal agricultural guest worker program under H-2A visas.
Labor shortages are the biggest issue Wenzlaff hears from dairy farmers, and a Wisconsin Farm Bureau committee is studying the issue and meeting with state and agricultural leaders. He supports expanding the H-2A program to include dairy workers and making it more efficient.
“It is possible to have secure borders while providing a stable workforce, and expanding guest worker programs and visa work programs will alleviate some of the agricultural workforce challenges we face. “It could be helpful,” Wentzlaff added.
He said the majority of dairy farmers in the federation’s membership are likely leaning toward President Trump, and Wentzlaff said he hasn’t heard anything from them about plans for mass deportation. The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation typically supports Republicans in Congress, but not presidential candidates.
Ermenegildo’s father has been working on Rosenau’s farm for nearly 10 years. His son joined him two years ago. Ermenegildo sends most of his income back to his family in Mexico and eventually hopes to use the money he makes from his dairy farm to build a house. The workers live in free housing on the farm and sometimes go to a store in Arcadia to buy groceries in Winona or send money back to Mexico. Most people earn around $40,000 a year.
Ermenegildo said the workers are talking about President Trump’s immigration plan and are “afraid of being deported.” They won’t want to go home…What they do here supports the whole family. ”
While he tended to the calves, another young Mexican immigrant wearing rubber boots led the cows into the milk parlor for milking three times a day. Workers disinfected the animal’s nipples and attached the unit to the udder, where milk flows. It was pumped through a stainless steel pipe into a cooling system and into a tank. He then took the milked cow back to the barn and brought in another cow for milking. In a nearby barn, other Mexican men installed plastic tarpaulins on the outside walls to keep the cows warm.
“They work really fast,” Rosenau said of the employees. “We don’t tell them to work really fast. They want to work really fast.”
Ramon, another dairy worker, left his partner and two children in Mexico and came to Wisconsin. “It’s been tough, but I’m leaving here to keep my family happy,” he said. Here he moves fertilizer, repairs barn roofs, and does other work around the farm.
Ramon has heard President Trump’s comments about mass deportations, but he doesn’t understand them.
“I don’t understand why they won’t let us work here,” he said. “We only came to work.
First published: October 22, 2024 at 4:19 p.m.
