The following program is a PBS Wisconsin original production.
>> I'm Afraid of the federal cuts to Medicaid.
>> Concerns about possible cuts to Medicaid are mounting around
the nation and here in Wisconsin. Plus, questions swirl
over revoked student visas. [MUSIC]
I'm Frederica Freyberg tonight on "Here& Now". The latest on
dozens of international students in Wisconsin who've had their
visas revoked by the Trump administration. We dig in to the
state's role in getting lead out of Milwaukee public schools.
Plus, questions about the impact of possible cuts to Medicaid.
And finally, some lessons about diplomacy on the international
stage. It's "Here& Now" for April 11th.
>> Funding for "Here& Now" is provided by the Focus Fund for
Journalism and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.
>> One day they're going to class, the next they're being
told to leave the country immediately. More than 50
international university students in Wisconsin have had
their student visas revoked this week, half of them at
UW-Madison, but also at system campuses across the state. At
Concordia University and Marquette, according to
university officials. UW-Madison says it played no role in the
visa terminations and know of no Ice activity on campus. Further,
university officials say they don't believe the revoked visas
relate to political activity. So what is going on? We turn to
Madison immigration attorney Amanda Gennerman with the Pines
firm. And thanks very much for being here.
you for asking me to be here today.
contacted by by some of these people. But as to that question,
what is going on? Do you know? >> It's a great question. These
are one of these things that we have been experiencing in the
last 90 days, that every day feels like a new day, right?
There are constant changes happening. And this being the
latest of that experience for foreign nationals in our
communities. >> Is that how it works that
they get notice of termination by the US government, and then
they have to leave the country immediately.
>> So student visas are its own unique world, and there are
systems in place that notify a student if they seem to not hold
that status anymore. And usually it's through the university DSO,
a designated student officer who notifies the student or has a
conversation and says there's an issue here. This is not how this
unfolded. For these 40 to 50 students. It was an email in
their box with this notification, no real
explanation. So yes and no to that answer.
>> Well, what happens if the students do not, in fact leave
immediately? Do they run the risk of being picked up by ice?
>> I think that this is definitely an act of enforcemen.
And should people not remove themselves or seek other relief
to remain in the United States, or try to establish that status
back in place, that Ice could take that action, come to take
them and start the removal proceedings?
>> So how urgently are advocates like yourself kind of responding
to this? >> So here locally within the
Madison and state of Wisconsin, a group of attorneys as of this
week were talking about how do we respond? What are the things
we can do? Who do we know at the university? How do we get
resources out? So yes, it's a small but mighty group, but we
are here to assist students. >> Has any information been
forthcoming from the university or from federal immigration
officials? >> No, the answer is no. Nobody
is really providing the information. And that's what the
problem is. You there supposed to be a system here? There's
supposed to be a due process opportunity for students to
explore. What are the issues. But it's being very, very it's
very vague. >> How broad are the reasons
that result in termination of a student visa and removal from
the US? >> So two different answers to
that question. Terminating a status for a student is under a
system that we call Cvis. And there's a check down box and
there's 3 to 4. If you fail to maintain your full caseload, if
you do have contact with law enforcement, it could be it
could be looked at. So it's primarily due to participating
in school, which is what you are here to do on an F visa. And so
when these things happen, what these students seem to be
noticing in their boxes of why they're being terminated is that
it's for unknown for other failing to maintain status. And
that's it. >> But they don't know. And the
university says that it does not appear that these terminations
have anything to do with political activity.
>> From what we're seeing right now and again, there are very I
have not had access to a majority of these individuals.
That does not seem to be the box that is ticked.
>> So are these students who are terminated, their status
terminated, and their visas revoked, presumably as a result
of that, are they able to have hearings.
>> That is what we're seeing. This litigation action, trying
to get these students back to having those conversations to
say, why was this terminated? What is the grounds for that?
And was it valid. >> From from your interactions
with these students and other lawyers that you're talking
with? Are they looking over their shoulder? Are they in
hiding? What are they doing? >> I think our communities are
in crisis right now. I think that people are very afraid when
we're watching people in Boston being taken off the street and
half masked officers. I don't know how you don't look over
your shoulder and how you don't worry about what's coming next.
Or am I supposed to be here or am I not? So I do believe that
the community is very much afraid for all of those reasons.
Rightfully so. >> All right, Amanda Gennerman,
we'll leave it there. Thanks >> Thank you.
>> The legislature's budget writing committee is on a road
trip across Wisconsin this month. The Joint Finance
Committee, now fashioning the 20 2527 state budget, is holding
public hearings in four cities through the month of April. The
Republican majority will start from scratch on the budget, even
after Governor Tony Evers delivered his two months ago.
One item in the governor's budget that legislators will be
deciding on is money for lead remediation. Evers wants $300
million to replace lead pipes and remove lead from buildings
statewide. Of particular concern. Lead contamination in
the city of Milwaukee. Inside its schools. Here and now.
Reporter Nathan Denzin is tracking that.
>> It's about doing what's best for our kids and families.
Simple as that. >> In his state of the state
address, Governor Tony Evers declared 2025 the year of the
kid. Part of that declaration was over $300 million in budget
proposals that would go towards lead remediation across the
state. >> There is no safe level of
lead exposure for kids. >> Lead is the one. Lead is the
serious one. That really hurts kids.
>> Marty Kanarek is an environmental epidemiologist and
professor at UW-Madison that has studied lead and lead poisoning
for nearly 50 years. >> A little kid exposed to lead
doesn't grow as fast, doesn't reach developmental milestones
as fast. It affects behavior. It causes hyperactivity, attention
deficit, bad behavior, disorderly conduct, lack of
concentration. It affects hearing. It affects speech.
>> Lead exposure affects everyone but children from birth
to about six years old are at particularly high risk. There
are many ways to get lead poisoning. Two of the most
common are from inhaling lead dust from deteriorated paint, or
from lead pipes carrying water. Once the toxin is in the body,
it can be stored in bones for more than 25 years, and in some
communities it can be hard to escape.
>> Milwaukee is like its own state on lead.
>> I think 62% of lead poisoning cases in children are from
Milwaukee. Throughout the throughout the whole state.
>> Ryan Clancy is the representative for Assembly
represents the area around Trowbridge Elementary School,
which temporarily shut down in March after dangerously high
levels of lead were found. >> Really, every almost every
MPs school and many schools across the state were built
before 1970. They almost certainly have lead paint in
them. >> So far in 2025, seven schools
in the MPs district have found a concerning level of lead.
>> That probably is the tip of the iceberg here.
>> Trowbridge was the first to temporarily relocate students,
but three more temporarily shut down after health officials
found nightly remediation work was unsafe. In some instances,
lead paint chips were found within arm's reach of a child's
desk. The other three schools were able to complete emergency
remediation without relocating students. One of those schools
is Golda Meir lower campus. >> My child is a third grader at
Golda Meir lower campus, and on January 13th, we received a
letter from MPs and the Milwaukee Health Department
alerting us that there had been a lead poisoned child. And the
at the school and the source of that lead poisoning was our
school. >> Kristen Payne was shocked
when the Milwaukee Health Department released pictures
from inside the school. The pictures show cracked and
of lead dust on windowsills and floors. Emergency remediation at
Golda Meir was done while children were still attending
class in the building. >> I'm deeply concerned about
sending my child into an environment that is not safe.
>> While Payne says she's frustrated with how school
district leaders have handled remediation, the buck ultimately
stops at the legislature. >> The defunding of our public
schools is sort of a longer kind of trajectory of how we got
here, right? That there just hasn't been adequate money for
staffing. know, even lead paint from
schools are extreme. >> Clancy estimated that a
single classroom could cost up to $20,000 to remediate,
replacing lead water pipes can cost even more.
>> You can't ask a school to sa, how many teachers will you fire
in order to do lead remediation? >> It's not something that we
can defer. And if we do choose to defer it, it will have
serious consequences for our communities.
>> Making sure our kids are healthy physically and mentally
is a crucial part of improving outcomes in our classrooms.
>> Evers proposals can be broadly broken down into two
categories remediation for lead painted windows and for lead
pipes. For window remediation. The governor is asking for $100
million plus two full time positions for a program that
replaces lead painted windows to tackle lead pipes. The Evers ask
includes more than $200 million to fund replacement efforts.
>> You've got not just a classroom. You've got not just a
school. You've got multiple schools shut down. So that
creates creates this wave of chaos behind it.
>> Chris Kapenga is the state senator from Delafield.
>> Number one, there needs to be accountability in NPS because
the parents are upset about it. Local elected officials are
upset about. >> It. At the Capitol. Assembly
Speaker Robin Vos said Evers entire budget proposal is dead
on arrival for the fourth consecutive biennium, making it
difficult to know how much of this funding will be passed.
>> The legislature will most likely just create their own
budget, and we always have. The governor always lays out a
budget and it's his wish list. >> Kapenga said NPS first needs
to figure out what went wrong before the state commits to
sending more money to the district.
happened so that it never happens again. So the new
superintendent of schools should be the one that says this is
important to us. >> Realistically, Kapinga says
Evers entire proposal won't get funded, but he still isn't sure
what the legislature will propose yet.
>> That is a big question that cannot be answered in a
political sound bite, because we haven't done the work yet to
understand what's needed. >> But Clancy and Payne say even
the full proposal wouldn't have been enough to remediate all of
the lead in Wisconsin. >> I'm grateful that there's
some money in the state budget for now, write Evers recommended
budget, but even that's not enough.
>> $221 million just for lead hazard control.
>> So we're estimating somewhere you know between $600,000,001
billion. We should be starting there in the budget.
>> It's just a question of money. Political will to give
the money to do the job. >> Even if the initial cost is
high. Everyone agrees that something needs to be done to
keep students safe. >> This is going to have to be a
priority because we can't educate our kids if they can't
be in the classroom. >> Every dollar that is spent on
that means an improvement in the quality of life for folks all
across the state. >> It's a losing argument to not
focus on lead eradication. >> The research is exquisite in
showing that every little bit of lead hurts kids brains.
>> For "Here& Now". I'm Nathan Denzin in Milwaukee.
>> This week, the Wisconsin DNR announced PFAS advisories for an
additional 50 private wells in the town of Peshtigo. The wells
are added to 32 private wells already tested as contaminated,
where homeowners are eligible for emergency water supplies.
Updated health guidelines lowered the cancer causing PFAS
levels considered safe for drinking water. The DNR says
firefighting foam manufactured by Tyco contaminated groundwater
in the area. The company previously reached multimillion
dollar settlements over the Forever chemical contamination
in Peshtigo and Marinette. Nationally and here in
Wisconsin, possible cuts to the health care program known as
Medicaid have sparked fear in the low income families, elderly
residents and people with disabilities who depend on it.
At a public hearing in West Allis, lawmakers on the state
legislature's Joint Finance Committee heard from many about
why Medicaid needs to be saved. >> Medicaid programs allow
persons with disabilities to live dignified life.
>> Medicaid really supports a healthy Wisconsin. We have about
half a million children in Wisconsin covered by Medicaid,
which is about a third of Wisconsin's kids.
>> People are going to lose their insurance. Rural and low
income hospitals will close, and people will die.
>> Impassioned public testimony on Medicaid before the state
budget writing committee. And now that Congress has passed its
budget blueprint, work begins in earnest in Washington to enact
major tax cuts paid for with sharp reductions in federal
programs that could hit the health care program. As to
Medicaid in Wisconsin, we turn to Bobbie Peterson, executive
director of ABC for health, a nonprofit public interest law
firm helping consumers navigate the health care system. And
Bobbie, nice to see you again. >> Thanks for inviting me.
>> So one point that you really want to make clear is that cuts
to Medicaid have not happened yet. That's right. With that in
mind, what's your guidance? >> Well, I think it's, you know,
don't panic, but let your voice be heard. I mean, Wisconsin
people know that Medicaid is a very important program. It
state. So that's families, friends, neighbors, a lot of
folks out there that have potentially affected by this.
But it hasn't changed yet. And there's opportunities to help
influence the process, hopefully make it better. And to avoid
some of the serious issues that that we're concerned about and
worried about. But I think we're going to do our best to try and
save them off. >> So what kinds of coverage
does Medicaid represent? >> It covers, you know, long
term care for seniors. It covers people with disabilities. It
covers a lot of kids on Badgercare, plus some parents,
childless adults. So it's broad and wide. And so I think if you,
you know, you're most of our viewers will know someone who is
getting Medicaid services. This affects every corner of the
state. >> Why are people sounding the
alarm on potential cuts? Is that overstated?
>> No, I think it's important. And even though it's
characterized sometimes as we're not going to cut the benefits,
just putting procedural hoops and hurdles in the path of
people. We've seen this before. We see it even now, and it could
get worse. So bureaucratic red tape blockages to coverage, just
making it harder for people to navigate these systems without
effective strategies to help people through that system is
the problem. >> As you say, the Trump
administration and GOP leaders say they will not cut Medicaid
benefits. They're going after waste, fraud and abuse. But you
were just talking about bureaucratic kind of red tape.
What could they do around eligibility requirements or
other things like that to affect reductions?
put in require work requirements for certain Medicaid programs
and that it's just the process, the paperwork getting through
it. People that may be ill may not be able to work. You know,
just going through that process deters people, knocks them off
to the side. They lose coverage and they're not getting
important health care and coverage that they need with a
consequence of running up medical bills and medical debt,
which is something that we really want to try and avoid.
>> Now, Wisconsin, as you know, never expanded Medicaid and
expanded Medicaid gave state. The feds gave states 90% of
those costs. Wisconsin never expanded it. So our share from
the feds is 60%. But with any reductions to Medicaid, could it
still blow up, you know, kind of the state budget?
>> Sure. I mean, I think that it depends if what Wisconsin, how
we react to it, you know, but I think for the most part, it's
going to be a situation where people are going to face most of
the pain, not the budget as much, because I think a lot of
folks out there are going to be deterred from getting the care
and services that they need. Their conditions will worse
worsen, their health will worsen, and their medical debt
will accumulate. >> So if there are cuts, what
are the implications to even those not covered by Medicaid
when it comes to things like uncompensated care and
hospitals, rural hospitals? >> Sure. I mean, they're under
stress already. Rural hospitals are under stress. We've seen
closures, rising levels of uncompensated care make it
untenable for them to continue operations in some levels
because it's just, you know, they're not meeting their bottom
line and they can't provide the services that they need. Rural
hospitals are on very thin margins. Most of them. We know
that in Wisconsin in 2023, the last year that that data is
available, there was $1.4 billion in uncompensated care.
That's a lot. But that's going to go up and it's going to
affect more people with more bills and unpaid bills. It's
going to affect hospitals with unpaid bills. It's a system
issue. >> And what does it mean? Apart
from uncompensated care to hospitals to people who are not
on Medicaid, but otherwise covered by other health care.
>> Programs. It's another one of the long term effects. It's cost
shifting. So if we think about, you know, people talk sometimes
about socialized medicine, I talk sometimes about socialized
medical debt. So if you think about all that debt that's
unpaid, it doesn't just go away, but it gets spread out in the
system to everybody else. So we all have a price to pay when
people don't have adequate coverage.
thanks very much. >> You're welcome.
>> With all of the anger and uncertainty in international
politics today, it seems that common ground is impossible to
find. But it can be done. According to the former United
States ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield
returned to her alma mater of UW-Madison to give a speech on
diplomacy and negotiation. She sat down with "Here& Now"
reporter Steven Potter to talk about meeting in the middle.
>> Here in Wisconsin, like elsewhere, political division on
a number of issues has really fractured our state. There are
things like abortion or school choice and the voucher system or
vaccines that seem to have really only two sides, either
for or against. Where does negotiation fit into these kind
of two sided debates or discussions?
>> You know, when I first started in politics, it was so
bipartisan. So you would always find a path to a solution with
Republicans and Democrats working together to find a
solution. And I think that's what the American people want.
They want their politicians to find solutions. They don't want
the divisions that they're seeing. And I know that many of
them will not always get what they expect, but what they don't
expect is to see gridlock. They don't expect to see their
politicians disrespecting each other, screaming in profanity at
each other, screaming insults at at each other. This is a new
kind of politics in America that I think the American people
broadly don't want to see. We all have our different views
about immigration, about abortions, about gender and
LGBT. But to fight about those issues in the halls of, of our
Congress and the halls of our state legislatures really don't
provide solutions for ordinary citizens who want to see our
government work. They want to see the government work for
them. And what they're seeing now is that the government is
not working for them. And what I would say to them is they have
to raise their voices to make sure that the politicians that
they voted for represent their views, but also represent the
interests of the country. >> How does the ever growing
impact of misinformation and disinformation affect the
ability to navigate and negotiate on issues that need
solutions? >> You know, people start to
fight for things that may not be factual. And so we have to find
a way to ensure that people get the actual facts, that they know
what they're hearing is, is really based on on truth. People
don't know what they're voting for. They don't know what where
the truth lies. And I don't know what the solution is to that,
because we're in a world now where it's instant information
and someone puts out something on Twitter and suddenly it's the
truth, when maybe it's not the truth. You have to find a way to
get to the truth. And I think so many people now don't know how
to do that, because we're being fed information from so many
different sources, whether it's X or it's Instagram or just, you
know, podcasts. You're just getting news from too many
different sources. >> What can Wisconsin residents
do to encourage their elected officials to come back to the
negotiating table and actually compromise more?
>> That's the million dollar question. I think part of it is
to ensure that they vote. We have very low turnout in
elections all over, all over the United States, and particularly
in in statewide elections, local elections. And even in some of
the congressional elections, if it's not a presidential election
year, people don't turn out to. >> Vote.
>> So that's the first thing people need to vote with. With
commitment, regardless of what the election is. And then they
need to hold their their elected officials accountable for what
they promised to do and what they are doing. If they're not
ensuring that they're making the government work for them. And,
you know, I think there's also a sense that when. A
representative is elected, he only represents the people who
voted for him, when in fact he represents the entire state. He
represents the people in his district who may not have voted
for him, or she represents the people in her district who may
not have voted. And I think we've lost that sense of we're
here to support the good of all. >> For more on this and other
issues facing Wisconsin, visit our website at PBS Wisconsin.
Org and then click on the news tab. That's our program for
tonight. I'm Frederica Freyberg. Have a good weekend.
>> Funding for "Here& Now" is provided by the Focus Fund for
Journalism and Friends of PBS
Wisconsin.