WISCONSIN — Farmers are closely monitoring the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Some have expressed support, while others are against it.
However, what most can agree on is that it will have an impact on the farming industry, which relies on immigrant workers.
An estimated 70% of the labor on dairy farms in Wisconsin are carried out by unauthorized immigrants, according to a 2023 survey from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School for Workers.
Spectrum News talked to one Wisconsin dairy farmer who did not want to reveal his name in order to protect his workers.
He said he began hiring workers from south of the border 20 years ago due to necessity.
“We searched and searched, and we couldn’t find any American-born employees who wanted to do this job, and trust me, I tried. I didn’t want to hire somebody who couldn’t speak English,” the farmer said.
He said immigrants now make up more than half of his workforce, and over the years, he’s formed a strong bond with them.
“Here is me for the last 20-plus years working shoulder to shoulder with decent, honest, hardworking, reliable, respectable people, and I’ve got my representatives saying to beware of all the guys creeping across the border,” he said.
He said he doesn’t believe his farm, and the hundreds of cows on it, could survive without them.
“[One of my workers] put like three of his kids through dentistry college down in Mexico,” he said. “I mean, think about that. Think about the good that his paycheck did. That was selfless. This was a guy who said, ‘I might work at a job that I don’t particularly like. Maybe I have to be in a place far away from my family, but I’m going to do that because my kids can then get an education and become professionals.’ And now, I mean, you think about that, right? There’s a lot of people who have better teeth because that guy was working and feeding us. What’s more American than that?”
He also said that it’s nearly impossible for farmers to verify with absolute certainty the status of immigrants seeking work.
“The employer is obligated to assume that that documentation is good documentation,” he said. “It’s legitimate. It’s real. We are supposed to take it at face value. If I don’t do that, aren’t I racially profiling somebody?”
Tyler Wenzlaff is the director of National Affairs for the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, an organization that is now helping farmers prepare for possible visits from U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“We are working with our members to make sure they understand that they have certain rights when it comes to farm labor and the employees that they have on their farms are there and we appreciate the work that they do,” said Wenzlaff.
Back on the farm, the farmer Spectrum News talked with reiterated that he hopes his livelihood and his workers will be protected.
“You can’t have a hamburger without immigrants. You can’t have a milkshake without immigrants. You can’t have ice cream. You can’t have a chunk of cheese. You can’t have orange juice. You are not going to have any salad. You are having none of that without immigrants in this country,” the farmer said. “We can kick them all out and ruin our economy and completely ruin our way of life or we can come up with a path to let people enter legally and work here and contribute to the economy as they have done for a few years.”
While this is just one opinion from a farmer in Wisconsin, many farmers nationwide are following the latest developments on immigration closely.