John Rosenow, a fifth-generation farmer in Waumandee, Wisconsin, owns greater than 900 acres and over 600 dairy cows. He stated about 90% of the work on the farm is finished by immigrants.
These immigrants embody Kevin, who was born in central Mexico and crossed the U.S. southern border illegally when he was 18. Now 21, Kevin, who didn’t present his final identify throughout an interview with CBS Information, is among the many 11 million undocumented migrants residing within the U.S. Greater than 10,000 of them work on Wisconsin dairy farms, in response to a report by the College of Wisconsin-Madison.
Kevin’s duties embody feeding cows and cleansing barns. He informed CBS Information he typically works 12 hours a day, six days per week, typically beginning as early as 3 a.m. However the pay is best than again dwelling.
He stated his mom and siblings again dwelling rely on his wage, together with cash made by his dad, who works on the identical farm.
Greater than half of all staff within the U.S. dairy trade are immigrants, in response to a research by Texas A&M College. Many are presumed to be undocumented since dairy farms typically cannot entry seasonal visa packages to rent authorized migrant staff. Like Kevin, many go away behind family members for wages which might be under what American staff get.
“If I employed Individuals to do the work, I must pay most likely about $100,000 a 12 months per individual, and they might solely work perhaps 40-50 hours per week at that charge,” Rosenow stated. “Clearly, I could not have the ability to afford to pay Individuals as a lot as they need.”
However as the brand new Trump administration begins to observe by way of on the president’s promise to deport undocumented immigrants, Rosenow is terrified of the longer term.
When requested what would occur if his staff have been deported, Rosenow informed CBS Information, “I am out of enterprise. And it would not take lengthy.”
However Kevin does not seem to share his boss’ worry.
“4 years in the past, when he was the president, he stated ‘I’m going to deport everybody’ however it by no means occurred,” Kevin stated in Spanish. “Generally we might watch the information and we’d see {that a} household was deported, and we have been scared to exit and purchase groceries. However I’ve not felt worry since then.”
