Jorge Franco on Trump and Wisconsin's Immigrant Workforce

Frederica Freyberg:
As the presidential campaign speeds toward the finish line, political rhetoric coming from Donald Trump around immigration and immigrants is more and more incendiary. What does that make them feel like? The president of the company where Trump appeared Tuesday in Waunakee responded to that question on behalf of his largely Hispanic workforce.

Mike Lisle:
They’re legal workers in this country. Some are citizens. Some are working on citizenship, but, but legal. They don’t like being painted in that same brush.

Frederica Freyberg:
For a look at the state as a whole and its Hispanic workforce, we turn to Jorge Franco, CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin, and thanks very much for being here.

Jorge Franco:
A pleasure to be with you, Frederica. Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:
So as to that question, what is it like for Hispanic people in Wisconsin to hear Donald Trump’s call for mass deportation and how he refers to immigrants?

Jorge Franco:
Well, you know, it’s an election season. And I think we’ve all grown accustomed, especially when you’ve been around the block the way I have. You’re all accustomed to the rhetoric that, that comes out at these times. You know, some take it over the top and, you know, when we think back on the first time he entered the race, of course, he entered with a bang if you remember the escalator visit and I think many were, were, you know, thoughtful about what was heard at the time. And, and border security is very important to all of us. You know, we Hispanics, our, our concerns are very similar to many others: economy. You know, who doesn’t want a, you know, a good economy. That’s a big focus for us. But we — it’s interesting. We’ve grown accustomed to what we hear and it comes from both sides really. But and in our case with the chamber, I should say, we’re a friend to everybody. We don’t pick one or the other or but we do, we do have our opinions and we and we’re smart about what’s going on in the economy. And we know how to navigate these things.

Frederica Freyberg:
What is your message to Wisconsin about the importance of our immigrant workforce, especially in dairy and agriculture?

Jorge Franco:
It’s vital to the state economy. If immigrants were to be gone tomorrow, just in those sectors and we’re not saying that’s the only sectors they work in. They’re in manufacturing. They’re in many aspects of the many, many sectors of the state economy. But just in those two alone, if they were gone tomorrow, our economy would tank. We’re so dependent on the workforce. And just look at the numbers in the last, you know, over the past year, I think we’ve been as high as 10 million vacancies in America. And of course, you know, we’re not the immigration cops at the Hispanic chamber. And that’s not of concern to us. We help anyone and everybody who walks through the door, even non-Hispanics. But the point is, if the Hispanic immigrants working in those two industries alone were to be gone tomorrow, our economy in Wisconsin would tank. We’re so dependent on dairy and agriculture.

Frederica Freyberg:
Are these workers in Wisconsin undocumented?

Jorge Franco:
Many are what you call undocumented. We refer to them as unauthorized. But the answer to that question is yes. There are, there are many. And that’s not just in the United States. And then there are immigrants who are authorized. They’re refugees. And so it’s a complexity of issues that emerge and come up. But the big issue is whether or not, you know, someone’s taking somebody’s job away and that, you know, that — those kinds of things under most effective public policy can be addressed because we need the human capital. It’s just statistically what’s going on in, in the U.S. economy and certainly in the Wisconsin economy. And our GDP would take a big hit absent that human capital today that some call undocumented, what we call unauthorized immigrants. The big issue is workforce. It’s where are we going to find workers? And of course, the Hispanic population on average is youthful, 9 to 10 years younger on average than the white population in America. And many people don’t realize that the unauthorized population, immigrant population pays taxes.

Frederica Freyberg:
You say that it is the ultimate entrepreneurial act to leave your country in search of work. How so?

Jorge Franco:
Absolutely. If you think about it for a moment. You know, we — the Hispanic culture is highly entrepreneurial and we have employers coming to us every day asking us to send them Hispanic workers because of the Hispanic work ethic. And we remind them, wait a minute, you understand we can’t and you can’t decide on whether you hire somebody or not based on race, religion, creed, color, whatever it may be. And you have to be careful with that too. However, if you are interested in us helping solve your workforce development issues, we can and do do that. But it has to be done properly and in a regulatory compliant manner. Coming back to the issue, you know, we’re, we’re talking about it. There are just — the good news is that there are solutions that could be implemented today. And regardless of who wins the election, we hope to work with those parties to get something put in place that works for everybody.

Frederica Freyberg:
Jorge Franco, thank you very much.

Jorge Franco:
Frederica, thank you so much. Bye bye.