Here & Now

Look Ahead: Immigrant-Employing Farmer On Deportation Memo

Frederica Freyberg:

We now move across the state for the perspective of a dairy farmer with a close eye on immigration enforcement policy. John Rosenow milks about 550 cows on his Buffalo County farm and employs workers from Mexico. It’s estimated more than 5300 immigrants work Wisconsin dairy farms representing more than 40% of all workers hired. Farmers say it is increasing hard to hire locally. John Rosenow joins us now from La Crosse. And thanks for being here.

John Rosenow:

Than you.

Frederica Freyberg:

What's your reaction to the executive orders calling for stepped up deportation now?

John Rosenow:

This causes concern, not only for dairy farmers, but also for our employees. They have stepped up apprehension now because of the talk of deportation and stuff like that. A lot of the talk that I'm hearing is stuff that I’ve heard before, maybe 10 years ago, with talks of the 287(g) and the enhanced enforcement, stuff like that, I think– I hope that cooler heads will prevail than what we’re hearing out of Washington.

Frederica Freyberg:

Well, when you describe 287(g), that is the kind of beefed up enforcement whereby local police and sheriffs’ departments assist ICE agents in these enhanced enforcements?

John Rosenow:

Yes. Right now, there’s 32 jurisdictions in the country that are 287(g) certified. Right now, there’s none in the state of Wisconsin, but it was brought up recently in different memos and stuff from the administration that they’re going to try to do that. There isn’t a lot of incentive for local jurisdictions to do that. It’s going to cost them more money. It’s going to cost more time. And it’s going to alienate people they need to work with.

Frederica Freyberg:

How are your Mexican employees and their families reacting and responding to all of this?

John Rosenow:

Well, there’s increasing concern. Before, maybe, it wasn’t a lot of concern, but now there’s increasing concern. I was recently in Mexico. I talked to a young mother. And her daughter’s up here in the United States and trying to make a living. She's working on a farm in Minnesota. And they’re very concerned that she will become deported. They need the money that she is making up there to survive in rural Mexico. This is something new. I hadn’t heard that before when I traveled to Mexico to visit the villages and stuff where my families come from, my employees come from.

Frederica Freyberg:

What are your specific business concerns for your operation?

John Rosenow:

Well, of course, if– if what they’re saying is they’re going to deport everybody, and I lost my employees, I would have to sell the cows, quit farming. My 10 people that work for us locally would lose their jobs. My trucker that hauls feed and bedding and stuff into our place would hurt his business dramatically. Our milk plant would be hurt. This is just if it happened to me. If it happened to everybody in the state, I have one neighbor not too far away, milks about a thousand cows. He and his son are talking about selling the cows now for fear that if this happened all across the state, the cows wouldn’t be worth anything to liquidate. So to get ahead of the curve, you get out of the business now.

Frederica Freyberg:

Very briefly with 30 seconds left, do you really expect that all this will come to pass?

John Rosenow:

I’ve heard this so many times over the last 15 to 20 years and I’m hoping that the same thing that’s happened in the past will happen again, not much. But ever since the election, everything’s on the table it seems. So I think we have laws and I think Secretary — ICE– Kelly– the head of ICE, Kelly, said in Mexico yesterday, I believe it was, they were going to follow the laws and follow the common practices of the United States of human rights. So I have hope.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. John Rosenow, thanks for your time.

John Rosenow:

Thank you.