Produced by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism
WisconsinWatch.org (https://www.wisconsinwatch.org/tag/immigration/)
The story, produced in collaboration with the Chicago Sun-Times, explores the practices of Chicago labor agencies that provide Latino workers to Asian restaurants across the Midwest, including in Wisconsin, under what the Illinois attorney general charges are illegal and exploitative conditions.
Farmers, experts say reliance on immigrant workers, many of them in the U.S. illegally, will continue unless dairies — and Congress — make significant changes.
The Hernandez family and other dairy workers are heading back to Mexico amid hostile rhetoric and rising immigration arrests in the Midwest and nationwide.
Dairy farmers raise wages to attract and keep Mexican and Central American employees. Workers cite hostility and heightened enforcement.
Some worry about President Trump’s immigration policies; local officials assure immigrants they will not be targeted.
The Center helped Harvest Public Media map meat packers nationwide for a Harvest series, “In the Shadows of the Slaughterhouses.”
Dairy farmer Jeremy Meissner and farm manager Huron Mireles are part of the reason Clark County’s population is growing while nearby counties’ levels are declining. Part three of three in the Center’s Rural Slide series.
This week, about 300 Wisconsin law enforcement officials received training on how to identify cases of human trafficking — which often are not spotted because victims are fearful to speak out.
Haitian immigrant Samuel Durand, 31, was deported to Haiti after living in Chicago for 17 years. He was jailed for three days upon his arrival.
The United States this year has deported more than 250 Haitians, half of whom were jailed without charges in facilities so filthy they pose life-threatening health risks. Some Haitians faced lengthy confinement in U.S. immigration facilities before the deportations. An investigation by the nonprofit Florida Center for Investigative Reporting found evidence that the Obama administration has not followed its own policy of seeking alternatives to deportation when there are serious medical and humanitarian concerns.
For the estimated 2,000 college students who come from abroad each year to fill the labor gap in the Dells, finding housing is far from guaranteed. Motel owner Chris Swart believes local officials should adopt regulations to improve housing for temporary workers in the Dells.
Each year, thousands of foreign students flock to the Dells with special visas to work in its tourism industry. But there are holes in the program: The work isn’t always guaranteed, students have little recourse for mistreatment, housing can be substandard, and getting around in the Dells can be downright dangerous.
