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>> Reporting from Rock
County. I'm Zac Schultz for

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"Here& Now".
>> This week, the US

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Immigration and Customs
Enforcement Agency

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confirmed the arrest of 24
undocumented immigrants in

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Manitowoc County, one of
whom was arrested for

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sexual assault of a child
in May, according to

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authorities. A few others
have convictions for

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traffic offenses, including
drunk driving and

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equipment, immigrant
advocates said some of

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those detained were dairy
workers swept up in the

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raid. Is ice coming for
immigrant farm workers who

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supply upwards of 80% of
the labor milking cows on

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Wisconsin dairy farms, we
turn to longtime dairy

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farmer, who employs workers
from Mexico on his western

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Wisconsin operation. John
Rosenow, who joins us from

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Buffalo County. And thanks
very much for being here.

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>> Glad to be here.
>> So have you seen or

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heard about immigration
enforcement on farms in

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Wisconsin?
>> No. So far there hasn't

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been any. And knock on wood,
there's been one in Vermont

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and one in New Mexico in
the United States since the

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election.
>> How dependent on

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immigrant labor are
Wisconsin dairy farms?

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>> Any farm that employs
anybody is going to have

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immigrants, any dairy farm.
And we estimate I sat down

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with a CEO of a large dairy
co-op a number of years ago,

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and at that point we
determined based on

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everything that we know,
that at least 80% and I

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would guess 90% of the milk
harvested every day in

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Wisconsin is harvested by
immigrants.

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>> And so are these workers
in the US legally.

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>> Well, there is no no
visa available for

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immigrants to get to work
on dairy farms. The H-2a

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visas for for short term
employment ten months and

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dairy is 24 hours a day,
seven days a week, 365 days

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a year. So there is no
legal way for them to get

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here.
>> And so the answer would

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be that most of these
people are not legally in

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the US.
>> That would be my guess.

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What each employer has to
do, whether you're dairy

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farmer or you're a steel
mill, is you have to fill

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out an I-9 and a W-4 within
three days of employment.

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And you look at the
documents and if you're a

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reasonable person,
according to the directions

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from the IRS, if if you
look at the documents and

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they appear genuine, you
accept them. And that's

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what we do. And all of our
employees have green cards.

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>> So the latest version of
the Farm Workforce

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Modernization Act of 2025
would make those H-2a visas

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year round and allow for a
path to permanent residency

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for dairy workers. What do
you think about this

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legislation and where might
that go?

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>> Well, it's not going to
go anywhere because none of

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them do. And we've had
probably for the last 25

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years that I've been
involved in this. I think

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every year somebody
introduces something and

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of the time it's political
posturing. People introduce

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a bill and then they tell
their constituents that

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they're doing something
about it, but it never gets

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out of committee. Nobody
wants to touch it. And so I

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have no hope. Like I told
somebody, I think it'd be

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better off rather than
reading the bill. It'd be

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walked my dog.
>> So you're cynical about

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this. And in the meantime,
dairy farmers need to do

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the work.
>> We have to get those

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cows milked every day. I've
been to Washington and I've

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talked to the Republicans
and Republicans say as soon

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as we get the border secure,
then we'll do something and

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then talk to the Democrats
and they say, well, we got

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no power, so I can't do
anything. And meantime, we

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have to get the cows milked.
And that's what farmers do.

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If the if Congress isn't
going to do their work, we

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still have to milk the cows.
We still have to produce

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the milk. We still have to
deliver calves. We can't

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just sit and wait for some
political posturing and

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reelection things and
everything else. So we get

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things done, and that's
what we need to do.

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>> What are your own 13
immigrant workers saying?

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In the midst of the current
climate on immigration

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enforcement?
>> When the current

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president was elected last
time, there was a lot more

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concern and not a lot
happened to them or their

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friends or neighbors or
people they knew. So this

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time they're going with,
it's going to be the same

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as last time. So they're
probably less concerned

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last time.
even in the midst of this

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kind of heightened ICE
activity, that there is a

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recognition that farmers,
particularly dairy farmers,

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need this labor?
>> Yes, I, I've involved in

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a few calls with leadership
in the administration

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conference calls, and what
I can gather from that is

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that there are two factions.
One faction led by Steven

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Miller thinks all
immigrants are bad, doesn't

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make any difference who or
where you are. They all got

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to go. And then the other
side is people from like

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Secretary of Agriculture,
Secretary of Labor and

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Secretary of Homeland
Security are on the other

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side, that there are
immigrants that are really

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helping the country. And I
think this is the battle

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that's happening within the
administration. I hope

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common sense prevails.
common sense prevails.