Many questions surrounding today’s debates about immigration policies are not new.
A UW-Stout history professor, whose 2004 book recounts immigration questions that were raised in the early 20th century, discusses some of the similarities and differences in the debates that took place a century apart. Robert Zeidel’s book, “Immigrants, Progressives and Exclusion Politics: The Dillingham Commission, 1900-1927,” traces that earlier immigration debate.
Wisconsin’s complex dairy farm dilemma: the need for immigrant workers, documented or not
By Dee J. Hall and Riley Vetterkind Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism DANE — On a recent cool, summer evening in the rolling hills just outside Madison, the lofty pole barn of Ripp’s Dairy Valley farm briefly transformed into a town hall meeting. As twilight descended, a crowd of more than 60 farmers, public officials, […]
YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW: Public officials shouldn’t block social media users
By Dee J. Hall, Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council In an age where major public policies are announced and debated through platforms like Facebook and Twitter, the courts are increasingly barring public officials from limiting people’s access to social media. In late July, a Virginia judge ruled that public officials do not have the right […]
Trying to cope with President Trump’s immigration agenda in Wisconsin’s dairy industry
Along a desolate country road in northeastern Wisconsin, Manuel Estrada speeds toward work in his rumbling silver Ford SUV. He’s running late for his predawn shift. And he’s worried.
His boss is counting on him; she’s been down a worker for a month. More than 400 Holstein cows stand blinking, waiting to be milked. His family needs the paycheck from his $11.50-per-hour job.
And Estrada, 30, hopes the police aren’t waiting for him, too.
Many area dairy farm workers “scared of government” and returning to Mexico, leaving farm owners with major help problems
DURAND — In the driveway of a two-story house on a dairy farm in western Wisconsin, five men focus on a unique construction project. Using a drill, hammer and nails, plywood and rope, they work together in the afternoon sun to erect a structure that resembles a makeshift corral in the bed of a Honda pickup.
Perry says he’ll work with states on renewable energy. . . but will Wisconsin work with Perry?
By Andee Erickson, Projects Editor for The Spectator Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the U.S. Department of Energy, told senators at his January hearing that he would work with states to lay the groundwork for renewable energy, but avoided giving a straight answer to a question on whether or […]