Oh, they just
cut my audio
to you. I'm sorry.
We can pick it up on the back end,
but that's cool.
I want to hear about it.
We are recording.
This week the U.S.
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 possession of narcotics
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 Roseno,
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 not 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 on
any dairy farm.
And we estimate, I sat down
with a CEO of
a large dairy co-op a number
of years ago.
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. Thank you.
And so are these workers
in the U.S.
Legally?
Well, there is no
visa available
for immigrants to
get to work on dairy farms.
The H2A visas for
short-term employment,
10 months, and
dairy is 24 hours a day, 7 days
a week, 365 days a year.
So there is not legal
way for them to get here.
And so the
answer would be that most
of these people are not legally
in the U.S.
That would be my guess.
What each employer has to do,
whether you're a dairy farmer or
you're 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 reasonable person,
according to the directions from the
IRS,
if you look 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
H2A 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
from the last 25 years that I've
been involved in this, I think every
year somebody introduces something
and nothing ever happens.
Most 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 better off if I went
and 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 talked
to the Republicans.
The Republicans say, as soon as we
get the border secure, then we'll do
something. And I talked with the
Democrats and they say, well, we've
got no power, so I can't do
anything.
In the meantime, we have to the cows
milk and that's what farmers do.
If Congress isn't going to do their
work, we still have to milk the
cows. We still have produce the
milk. We still had to deliver
calves. We can't just
sit and wait for some political
posturing.
We have to do 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
this time than they were last time
So do you suspect that
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've been 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 Stephen Miller that
thinks all immigrants are bad,
doesn't make any difference who or
where you are.
They've 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.
We leave it there.
John Rosenau, thanks very much.
I've got to say it's super cool that
you've been on conference calls with
Stephen Miller and the
Secretary of Agriculture.
Well, the Secretary of Agriculture
with Stephen Miller, no.
Oh, yeah.
Well, super interesting
stuff, and thank you for your
perspective.
And I think we'll
follow up via
email about
what you're doing with your workers
and their families and
that, what you were about to tell
me.
Yeah, we have our
grand opening is at the University
of Wisconsin-Eau Claire at the
McIntyre Library, October 14th
at 4 p.m.
Oh, that's coming right up.
Yeah, so we
think it's good.
It's some recognition of people that
maybe don't get recognized very
often, and they deserve it.
They're the real heroes.
Can you send me anything
you have on that?
We will do that.
Thank you. Thank you again for doing
this with us.
Okay, thank you.