Farmers demand immigration reform

(WCIJ/Robert Gutsche)

While lawmakers take small steps towards immigration reform, Wisconsin dairy farmers live the consequences of inaction.

This story is adapted from a broadcast audio segment; use audio player to listen to story in its entirety.

Report by Manuel Quinones, CNC News, in collaboration with the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.

A newspaper cartoon above lobbyist Craig Regelbrugge's desk shows farm workers harvesting lettuce.  Two guys wearing American flags on their shirts shout, “Hey, Pedro!  Go back to Mexico!  But first, can you cut my yard and clean my swimming pool?”
 
Regelbrugge has spent much of the last decade pushing for an overhaul of America’s immigration laws.  The cartoon illustrates the contradictory and often angry rhetoric he's up against.
 
“This is an issue that has always tapped into great passions,” Regelbrugge said in his Washington office, which has a view of K Street, the Washington artery synonymous with inside-the-Beltway lobbying.
 
Regelbrugge works for the American Nursery and Landscape Association.  He's also become a champion for dairy operations that say they need immigrant workers to stay afloat even in a recession.  He’s sat down with lawmakers and brought together agricultural producers in a united front.
 
Regelbrugge spoke to a group of Wisconsin farmers in Madison recently.  He said they want action from their Washington representatives.
 
“The level of anxiety in the industry there and elsewhere is as high as I have seen it in my years working on this issue,” he said.
 
Dairy farmers say they want access to workers without getting in trouble.  Many say they could go out of business without immigrant labor and consumers would likely end up paying more for milk.
 
But many lawmakers on Capitol Hill are running away from the issue.  They worry immigration could hurt them at the ballot box this November, and lack the legislative ‘bandwidth’ to focus on much besides the ailing economy, joblessness and health care reform.
 
Meanwhile, Wisconsin dairy producers John Rosenow and Loren Wolfe said they’ve had trouble finding enough locals willing to get dirty and work tough hours.
 
“We need [immigrants] to milk cows or we’d barely be in business,” Wolfe said of the Hispanic immigrants who work for the farm near Cochrane.
 
Immigrants now make up about 40 percent of the state’s dairy labor force, up from 5 percent a decade ago, according to a 2009 study by the UW-Madison Program on Agricultural Technology Studies. Many of the workers  are in the United States illegally.
 
Regelbrugge said the status quo creates economic instability and the risk for employers to exploit immigrant workers.  He said it's also putting dairy farmers in jeopardy.
 
“Frankly it poses a challenge to farmers who wonder whether they can pass their business to the next generation,” he said.
 
Bush Tried, Failed To Change Immigration
 
The last time Congress passed major immigration reform legislation was in 1986.  It was supposed to fix the Nation's illegal immigration problem by granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants and beefing up enforcement.   But the effort failed to properly control the future flow of immigrants and the demand for immigrant workers.
 
President George W. Bush gave it another try during his second term in office.  It ended in a crushing defeat in the Senate.
 
President Bush’s plan also included a path to legalization and measures to strengthen border security and create a temporary guest worker program.  Opponents called it an unacceptable amnesty.  Many also doubted the government’s ability to fulfill the legislation's lofty promise of finally fixing the illegal immigration problem.
 
Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Menomonee Falls, was one of those Republicans blasting Bush for his immigration proposal.  For years, Sensenbrenner has been a thorn on the side of advocates of a so-called comprehensive immigration reform bill.
 
"The American public is opposed to granting amnesty to illegal immigrants," Sensenbrenner said.  "And no matter how they try to spin it by calling it comprehensive immigration reform, earned legalization, whatever, the public gets what it really is."
 
Sensenbrenner said he hasn’t forgotten the concerns of dairy farmers.  He said he may be willing to support some sort of temporary guest worker program.  Yet, his top priority is stopping illegal border crossings and the hiring of undocumented workers.
 
"And that means vigorously enforcing employer sanctions, fining those who break the law by hiring illegal immigrants," he said.
 
Another Wisconsin Republican, Thomas Petri of Fond du Lac, considers himself a champion of the industry.  But he cringed when asked about the immigration reform issue and its impact on Wisconsin dairy producers.
 
Petri didn’t want to go into detail but said he supports making sure producers have the workers they need while being tough on illegal immigration.
 
"We really need to make sure we get a handle on people coming into the United States illegally, both in fairness to those who come here legally and to give people confidence that there is just not going to be another wave of uncontrolled immigration," Petri said.
 
Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, whose district relies heavily on the dairy industry, worries too much of a strong hand from Washington may hurt dairy farmers.
 
“They told me that if Congress were to do something too draconian it would put them out of business,” Kind said.  He supports moving forward with legislation to address immigrant labor concerns.
 
Rep. Steve Kagen, D-Appleton, who sits on the House Agriculture Committee, didn’t comment for this story despite attempts through his office and in-person.  He recently signed on to a resolution calling for tough enforcement policies against illegal immigrants.
 
Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, said, “I don’t want to talk about that,” when approached just outside the House floor.  He walked away.
 
Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., told this reporter, “You’re a good man,” when pressed about immigrants in the dairy industry.  Then he jumped into an elevator.  But in response to questions submitted to his office, Kohl wrote that he supports reforming the system to benefit dairy farmers in the state.   
 
Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., calls Congressional inaction “irresponsible.”  He sits with Kohl on the Senate Judiciary Committee with jurisdiction over immigration issues.
 
Unintended Consequences
 
The number of illegal immigrants has grown dramatically in the years lawmakers haven’t passed significant reform legislation.  The estimate is now about 12 million.
 
In fact, lawmakers and government officials helped exacerbate the immigration problem through lax enforcement policies going back decades and tacit support for the growth of immigrant labor, according to analysts.  Earlier policies actually encouraged it.
 
“[There is] no question that federal, Congressional immigration policies contributed to hiring of immigrant workers, both legal and unauthorized,” said Marc Rosenblum, a senior policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute, a widely respected non-partisan think tank.
 
“People came here, we needed their labor and we didn’t provide the legal means to do it,” said Regelbrugge, the lobbyist.
 
In a November speech, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said immigration reform should be a "three-legged stool" including "serious and effective enforcement, improved legal flows for families and workers, and a firm but fair way to deal with those who are already here."
 
While Congress fails to address the last two legs, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has continued to pursue enforcement against illegal workers and employers. Last year, federal agents started going through tens of thousands of employment documents from businesses around the country, including dairy farms, as part of a new compliance campaign. ICE officials won’t release details but say businesses in Wisconsin are part of the investigation.
 
While some celebrate the tough talk, dairy producers see a major threat to their business.  The government has stepped up enforcement without securing a means for hiring legal foreign workers.  Sometimes farmers unknowingly hire illegal immigrants.
 
“Of our concerns in our dairy, that’s number one,” said Rosenow, the dairy farmer.  He said producers can’t afford to see their employees deported.
 
Jaime Castaneda with the National Milk Producers Federation said dairy farmers say are actually worse off than other agricultural producers when it comes to hiring foreign labor.  He said they can't take advantage of the existing program because it only covers temporary and seasonal workers.
 
“Dairy farmers cannot have access to any visa system to bring foreign labor,” Castaneda said.  “Dairy farmers have access to nothing.”
 
Strange Bedfellows
 
The immigration reform debate is not like others in Congress, with Democrats and Republicans at odds over what to do.  Members of both parties support fixing U.S. immigration laws.  For example, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have been working together to fashion a compromise.
 
"The partisanship that has stalled other reforms may not come into play in the same way with immigration reform so I think we have some prospects," said Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, who sits on the Judiciary Committee on the House side.
 
Rosenblum said labor unions have historically united with social conservatives in opposing generous immigration policies.  On the other hand, he said the business community and political liberals have come together to call for more generous rules.
 
Regelbrugge said he knows of politically conservative farmers who are collaborating with liberal community organizers on immigration.
 
But just because immigration reform has bipartisan support doesn’t mean Congress will resolve or even take up the issue in the coming weeks or months.  It was a coalition of members from both parties that killed it the last time around.  And the wounds of failure are still too tender for many lawmakers.
 
"My colleagues recall the last unsuccessful attempt and feel a little burned by that," said Rep. Baldwin.  She says she’s ready to move forward.
 
“It has become such a political football unfortunately,” Rep. Kind said.
 
Several dozen Democrats, including Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, introduced a so-called comprehensive immigration reform legislation package late last year.
 
The bill includes a path to legalization for many illegal immigrants but analysts say it would do little to address the concerns of the dairy industry and other sectors that depend on immigrant labor.  It's more of a rallying cry than a proposal expected to garner enough support to pass.
 
The Foreign Worker Debate
 
Business and labor leaders have been getting together in ongoing meetings.  They have come to agree on the need for immigration reform but are divided on the details–especially when workers are concerned.  The disagreement is a major reason the immigration debate has not moved faster.
 
The business community generally wants a generous, legal supply of foreign born labor.  They say businesses shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to hire the necessary workers.
 
“We want to bring, let’s say, a roofer from Mexico in a timeframe that is shorter than ten years,” said Angelo Amador, the immigration policy director at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
 
Labor leaders want some sort of independent commission to study the labor market and decide when and where workers are needed.  They say they want to protect both immigrant and American workers.
 
“When we are bringing people to work, we are not bringing in commodities,” said Ana Avendano with the AFL-CIO.  “What they’re saying is that we depend on having a steady pool of exploitable workers.”
 
"I understand there can be some apprehension about foreign workers and guest worker programs, especially as we face job losses and high unemployment figures in the United States. But it is important to balance the need to provide farmers with access to the workers they need, with the need to protect American jobs," Sen. Kohl wrote.
 
Compromise in the Works
 
Proponents of comprehensive reform say the best way to fix the problem is with broad legislative action.  But some supporters, including Rep. Baldwin, say a piecemeal approach may be necessary, especially during an election year.
 
Dairy producers say congress can help them by at least passing the so-called AgJobs bill.  The legislation would overhaul the agricultural foreign worker program and create a path to legalization for certain farm workers.
 
Several Wisconsin lawmakers have signed on to the legislation, including Kohl, Feingold, Kagen, Petri, Ryan and Kind.  But progress on AgJobs is also stalled.
 
As the majority party, Democrats control the agenda.  President Obama only briefly mentioned immigration reform in the State of the Union.  And leaders in Congress have for the most part just paid lip service to the issue.
 
“Democratic leaders are weighing how many votes they win by doing immigration reform and how many votes they lose by doing immigration reform,” Rosenblum said.
 
Meanwhile, Regelbrugge keeps pushing for Congressional action.  He said guys in suits like him lobbying lawmakers may not do much good anymore.  He said it’s time for reform supporters, including Wisconsin dairy farmers, to be active in getting together and pressuring their lawmakers.
 
He’s also looking for Senators and Representatives not to, “run to the hills,” on immigration as President Obama said in his speech when referring to timid Democrats.
 
Regelbrugge hopes that, “When Congress comes back at it again, there will be substantially more courage to do the right thing and fix the system rather than just counting phone calls.”
 
Meanwhile, Wisconsin dairy farmers are stuck between trying to follow the rules and staying in business.
 
“We sat down at a partner meeting looking at the threats to our livelihood and the number one threat that we could envision was to lose our employees,” Rosenow said.  “There is no way we can manage that.  There is just no way.”

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