A U.S. House reconciliation bill passed to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda on tax and spending cuts also boosts funding for immigration enforcement — Darryl Morin of Forward Latino called the intensifying federal stance a continued attack on immigrant communities. State Sen. Patrick Testin is co-sponsor of a bill moving through the Wisconsin Legislature that would give new status to highly trained nurses and spoke to how it’s intended to expand health care options. Jim Tuckwell of the Vilas County Economic Development Corporation and developer Kevin McDonell described new townhomes in Lac du Flambeau as a welcome addition to the community in need of affordable housing.
 

Darryl Morin
National President, Forward Latino

• Morin leads a national immigrant advocacy organization headquartered in Milwaukee. Forward Latino is involved in the case of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan, who was arrested and has pled not guilty to federal charges for allegedly helping a man evade arrest by immigration agents. Morin said Dugan’s case attests to an escalation in federal immigration enforcement methods.
• Morin: “There is tremendous concern out there right now. With all of the policies and rules that are changing outside of the normal channels, we’re seeing individuals across the country, even those lawfully present in the United States, being detained and deported without any due process whatsoever. And what I think should concern every American is that a lot of those detentions and deportations have taken place despite court orders saying that they were not to move forward and they were not to occur. So, not only is this an immigration issue, but it’s quickly becoming a constitutional issue as well.”

State Sen. Patrick Testin
R-Stevens Point

• After Gov. Tony Evers twice vetoed legislation that would allow advanced practice registered nurses to care for patients outside the supervision of medical doctors and physicians groups opposed the proposal, state Sen. Testin negotiated with stakeholders to get to yes. Now this measure (AB 257/SB258) is moving through the Legislature to allow these nurses to practice solo after training under a physician for four years along with other requirements.
• Testin: “I think this is going to be huge, especially when you take a look at our critical access hospitals where oftentimes these hospitals in rural areas, they rely on nurse anesthetists because oftentimes they don’t have an anesthesiologist on site. On top of that, for communities where they have a lack of positions, it’s going to allow our APRNs to go into these underserved areas and provide that first line of care for patients. And so this is a profession that has seen tremendous growth in recent years, but yet we still have vacancies and shortages upwards of 9-10%in many of our areas around the state. This is just one small piece of the puzzle as we work with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to address health care shortage here in the state.”

Jim Tuckwell and Kevin McDonell
Board Chairman, Vilas County Economic Development Corporation, and Vice President,
Lincoln Avenue Communities

• Forty new townhomes in Lac du Flambeau designed as worker housing are intended to help put a dent in the lack of affordable homes in the area. McDonell noted the development in Vilas County offers two and three bedroom units described as “luxury affordable,” with subsidized rents. Tuckwell said employers in tourist-heavy communities often have to turn workers away because they can’t find an affordable place to rent.
• McDonell: “They’re all townhouse style units — individual entries, attached garages. All of the buildings have rooftop solar. In terms of the affordability and the level, we have a wide range of residents that we’re serving. So, we have market rate units, which we have actually a tremendous demand for — a huge waiting list right now. We have on the other end of the spectrum something called 811 housing voucher units that are for folks that have some type of disability: physical, mental, emotional. There’s a number of different types of disabilities that can qualify for those units, but those units are set aside for individuals with very low incomes, 30% or less than the county mean income. And then we have about 27 out of the 40 units are what we’d call kind of more traditional workforce housing units – set aside for 50 to 60% of the Vilas County median income.”
  Tuckwell: “We have been hearing for a while from employers that in some cases they’ve offered and had jobs accepted and then the individuals can’t find an affordable place to live and have to turn the job down. Others just aren’t even applying for the jobs just, because again, they can’t find a place to live in advance. So it’s a very key issue, and this serves a very, very significant need for us.”

Watch new episodes of Here & Now at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays.