Frederica Freyberg:

The annual day of immigrant workers rights on May 1st saw demonstrations in Madison and Milwaukee this week. Among its goals, advocating for drivers’ licenses for immigrants. Meanwhile, the Republican-led budget writing committee this week axed 545 items from the governor’s proposed budget, including drivers’ licenses for all. There’s an estimated 5,000 migrant workers arriving in Wisconsin annually to work farming or food processing jobs. For more, we turn to Tony Gonzalez, director of the American-Hispanic Association of Marathon County, and thanks very much for being here.

Tony Gonzalez:

Thank you for having me on your program.

Frederica Freyberg:

So why are drivers’ licenses so important for the immigrant worker population?

Tony Gonzalez:

Well, it’s very important because the bottom line is that even through this pandemic they’ve just experienced, it was those immigrant workers out in the fields putting the food on America’s table, and, you know, whatever people feel about immigrants, the reality is that they’re working, that businesses are knowingly hiring them and needing their labor and otherwise, we wouldn’t have a lot of production, and particularly here in northcentral Wisconsin, where public transportation is non-existent, just about, very limited, and the distances are so great. So it’s very important that they get there in a safe way and also you don’t want to have to consider the fact that a lot of those immigrants’ kids are American-born kids. They go to schools, they need to go to hospitals, they need things and they need to arrive there in a safe way so it’s an important thing that people do so in a safe way and that we know that — we all want to know that those that are sharing the roads with us are people that have been trained and know how to follow the rules of the road.

Frederica Freyberg:

Some critics say that this could lead to fraud or illegal voting. What’s your response to that?

Tony Gonzalez:

You know, that is a narrative that is not true. Number one, if something like that happens, you have to blame the people at the voting polls because people have to show their ID and the offer has always been there to make sure that these aren’t going to be — ID cards that are very specifically going to say not for voting, so they’re not Real ID compliant as all IDs have to be, so it’s going to be very clearly marked that they’re not able to vote, and I’ve got to add something to that. The population also has no interest in doing that. Their interest is being able to get on the road safely.

Frederica Freyberg:

How is the tide turning on this issue, though, between the worker shortage and the promoting public safety?

Tony Gonzalez:

Well, I think we are very optimistic that things are changing. The conversation has changed to be more educational, where our legislators understand the need that business owners and the industry needs for the workers and that safety is something that is incredibly big, not only just about the immigrant undocumented worker, but the rest of us that are on the road. It’s very important to know that people have insurance, that they know how to drive and that we are safe on the roads.

Frederica Freyberg:

You said another top issue in your area with not very much time left here to talk, is mental health. What’s the situation?

Tony Gonzalez:

Well, we find ourselves in a very hard situation because there’s not enough mental health providers to start with, and most importantly, there’s not mental health providers that speak the language or that have the cultural knowledge. So we have to bridge that gap. Hopefully with more professionals that can do that, but in the meantime, the use of people that know the language, interpreters that can help bridge that gap is very important here because it is an issue with many of our farmers, being away from their families, having to live the way that they have to live in the shadows, and kids also growing in that environment, it really is a big burden and it’s a big need here, mental health, and providers to help with that.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Well, Tony Gonzalez, thanks very much.

Tony Gonzalez:

Well, thank you for having me on your program. Pleasure.