John Rosenow on Dairy Workers and Immigration Enforcement

Frederica Freyberg:
This week, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency confirmed the arrest of 24 undocumented immigrants in Manitowoc County. One of whom was arrested for sexual assault of a child in May, according to authorities. A few others have convictions for traffic offenses, including drunk driving and possession of narcotics equipment. Immigrant advocates said some of those detained were dairy workers swept up in the raid. Is ICE coming for immigrant farm workers who supply upwards of 80% of the labor milking cows on Wisconsin dairy farms? We turn to longtime dairy farmer who employs workers from Mexico on his western Wisconsin operation, John Rosenow, who joins us from Buffalo County. And thanks very much for being here.

John Rosenow:
Glad to be here.

Frederica Freyberg:
So have you seen or heard about immigration enforcement on farms in Wisconsin?

John Rosenow:
No. So far there hasn’t been any and knock on wood, there’s been one in Vermont and one in New Mexico in the United States since the election.

Frederica Freyberg:
How dependent on immigrant labor are Wisconsin dairy farms?

John Rosenow:
Any farm that employs anybody is going to have immigrants, any dairy farm. And we estimate, I sat down with a CEO of a large dairy co-op a number of years ago, and at that point we determined based on everything that we know, that at least 80% and I would guess 90% of the milk harvested every day in Wisconsin is harvested by immigrants.

Frederica Freyberg:
And so are these workers in the US legally?

John Rosenow:
Well, there is no visa available for immigrants to get to work on dairy farms. The H-2A visas for short term employment – ten months – and dairy is 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. So there is no legal way for them to get here.

Frederica Freyberg:
And so the answer would be that most of these people are not legally in the U.S?

John Rosenow:
That would be my guess. What each employer has to do, whether you’re a dairy farmer or you’re a steel mill, is you have to fill out an I-9 and a W-4 within three days of employment. And you look at the documents and if you’re a reasonable person, according to the directions from the IRS, if you look at the documents and they appear genuine, you accept them. And that’s what we do. And all of our employees have green cards.

Frederica Freyberg:
So the latest version of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2025 would make those H-2A visas year-round and allow for a path to permanent residency for dairy workers. What do you think about this legislation and where might that go?

John Rosenow:
Well, it’s not going to go anywhere because none of them do. And we’ve had probably for the last 25 years that I’ve been involved in this, I think every year somebody introduces something and nothing ever happens. Most of the time, it’s political posturing. People introduce a bill and then they tell their constituents that they’re doing something about it, but it never gets out of committee. Nobody wants to touch it. And so I have no hope. Like I told somebody, I think I’d be better off rather than reading the bill, I’d be better off if I went and walked my dog.

Frederica Freyberg:
So you’re cynical about this. And in the meantime, dairy farmers need to do the work.

John Rosenow:
We have to get those cows milked every day. I’ve been to Washington and I’ve talked to the Republicans and Republicans say as soon as we get the border secure, then we’ll do something and then I talk to the Democrats and they say, well, we got no power, so I can’t do anything. And meantime, we have to get the cows milked. And that’s what farmers do. If Congress isn’t going to do their work, we still have to milk the cows. We still have to produce the milk. We still have to deliver calves. We can’t just sit and wait for some political posturing and reelection things and everything else. So we get things done, and that’s what we need to do.

Frederica Freyberg:
What are your own 13 immigrant workers saying in the midst of the current climate on immigration enforcement?

John Rosenow:
When the current president was elected last time, there was a lot more concern and not a lot happened to them or their friends or neighbors or people they knew. So this time they’re going with, it’s going to be the same as last time. So they’re probably less concerned this time than they were last time.

Frederica Freyberg:
So do you suspect that even in the midst of this kind of heightened ICE activity, that there is a recognition that farmers, particularly dairy farmers, need this labor?

John Rosenow:
Yes, I, I’ve involved in a few calls with leadership in the administration — conference calls, and what I can gather from that is that there are two factions. One faction led by Steven Miller thinks all immigrants are bad, doesn’t make any difference who or where you are. They all got to go. And then the other side is people from like Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Labor and Secretary of Homeland Security are on the other side, that there are immigrants that are really helping the country. And I think this is the battle that’s happening within the administration. I hope common sense prevails.

Frederica Freyberg:
We leave it there. John Rosenow, thanks very much.

John Rosenow:
Thank you.