>> Reporting from Rock County. I'm Zac Schultz for
"Here& Now". >> This week, the US
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency
confirmed the arrest of 24 undocumented immigrants in
Manitowoc County, one of whom was arrested for
sexual assault of a child in May, according to
authorities. A few others have convictions for
traffic offenses, including drunk driving and
equipment, immigrant advocates said some of
those detained were dairy workers swept up in the
raid. Is ice coming for immigrant farm workers who
supply upwards of 80% of the labor milking cows on
Wisconsin dairy farms, we turn to longtime dairy
farmer, who employs workers from Mexico on his western
Wisconsin operation. John Rosenow, who joins us from
Buffalo County. And thanks very much for being here.
>> Glad to be here. >> So have you seen or
heard about immigration enforcement on farms in
Wisconsin? >> No. So far there hasn't
been any. And knock on wood, there's been one in Vermont
and one in New Mexico in the United States since the
election. >> How dependent on
immigrant labor are Wisconsin dairy farms?
>> Any farm that employs anybody is going to have
immigrants, any dairy farm. And we estimate I sat down
with a CEO of a large dairy co-op a number of years ago,
and at that point we determined based on
everything that we know, that at least 80% and I
would guess 90% of the milk harvested every day in
Wisconsin is harvested by immigrants.
>> And so are these workers in the US legally.
>> Well, there is no no visa available for
immigrants to get to work on dairy farms. The H-2a
visas for for short term employment ten months and
dairy is 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days
a year. So there is no legal way for them to get
here. >> And so the answer would
be that most of these people are not legally in
the US. >> That would be my guess.
What each employer has to do, whether you're dairy
farmer or you're a steel mill, is you have to fill
out an I-9 and a W-4 within three days of employment.
And you look at the documents and if you're a
reasonable person, according to the directions
from the IRS, if if you look at the documents and
they appear genuine, you accept them. And that's
what we do. And all of our employees have green cards.
>> So the latest version of the Farm Workforce
Modernization Act of 2025 would make those H-2a visas
year round and allow for a path to permanent residency
for dairy workers. What do you think about this
legislation and where might that go?
>> Well, it's not going to go anywhere because none of
them do. And we've had probably for the last 25
years that I've been involved in this. I think
every year somebody introduces something and
of the time it's political posturing. People introduce
a bill and then they tell their constituents that
they're doing something about it, but it never gets
out of committee. Nobody wants to touch it. And so I
have no hope. Like I told somebody, I think it'd be
better off rather than reading the bill. It'd be
walked my dog. >> So you're cynical about
this. And in the meantime, dairy farmers need to do
the work. >> We have to get those
cows milked every day. I've been to Washington and I've
talked to the Republicans and Republicans say as soon
as we get the border secure, then we'll do something and
then talk to the Democrats and they say, well, we got
no power, so I can't do anything. And meantime, we
have to get the cows milked. And that's what farmers do.
If the if Congress isn't going to do their work, we
still have to milk the cows. We still have to produce
the milk. We still have to deliver calves. We can't
just sit and wait for some political posturing and
reelection things and everything else. So we get
things done, and that's what we need to do.
>> What are your own 13 immigrant workers saying?
In the midst of the current climate on immigration
enforcement? >> When the current
president was elected last time, there was a lot more
concern and not a lot happened to them or their
friends or neighbors or people they knew. So this
time they're going with, it's going to be the same
as last time. So they're probably less concerned
last time. even in the midst of this
kind of heightened ICE activity, that there is a
recognition that farmers, particularly dairy farmers,
need this labor? >> Yes, I, I've involved in
a few calls with leadership in the administration
conference calls, and what I can gather from that is
that there are two factions. One faction led by Steven
Miller thinks all immigrants are bad, doesn't
make any difference who or where you are. They all got
to go. And then the other side is people from like
Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Labor and
Secretary of Homeland Security are on the other
side, that there are immigrants that are really
helping the country. And I think this is the battle
that's happening within the administration. I hope
common sense prevails. common sense prevails.