Despite rhetoric that undocumented immigrants hinder the U.S. economy, they are vital to Wisconsin’s dairy industry, farmers and experts said. While President Donald Trump has ramped up anti-immigrant rhetoric in his second term, undocumented immigrants play a key role in Wisconsin’s farms. Undocumented immigrants alone make up an estimated 46% to 70% of the dairy farmers working, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Workers study. Nationally, both documented and undocumented immigrants make up 51% of dairy farmers.
UW-Madison Professor Armando Ibarra, an expert in Latin American working communities, told the Cardinal that Puentes/Bridges “brings humanity back” to the relationship between the immigrant farmers and the owners. “I really admire John, and I really admire the program,” Ibarra said. He knows Rosenow and said the farm owner “looks at the dairy industry of something with pride, something from Wisconsin.”
The Daily Cardinal | While Trump deports immigrants, this Wisconsin farm can’t run without them
Interviews: Professor Armando Ibarra