WCMA Notes: Dairy Needs Immigration Reform Now

For decades, dairy manufacturers and other food processing industries vital to American food security have urged Congress to create a year-round agricultural visa for immigrant workers. 

But Congress – under the leadership of both political parties – has failed to act. 

Now, tough new immigration enforcement practices spotlight Congress’ inability to reform legal immigration visas and citizenship pathways, and American food production is threatened. 

This summer, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers raided California produce farms and arrested dozens of workers in an Omaha, Nebraska meatpacking plant. In June, ICE arrested 11 dairy farmer workers in New Mexico. 

ICE raids, and the recent Trump Administration move to halt new worker visas for commercial truck drivers, have stressed and confused America’s immigrant workforce. Yet our nation’s economy, and certainly the U.S. dairy industry, relies heavily on skilled immigrants who pay taxes on their wages, live and shop in their rural communities, and often have multiple years or decades of expertise in their craft. 

In August, a cheese manufacturer in Monroe, Wisconsin saw a significant portion of its immigrant workforce leave the worksite days after new owners Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) began to rightfully implement the federal government’s E-Verify program to determine workers’ eligibility to work in the U.S. 

A month earlier, Dennis Rodenbaugh, President and CEO of Dairy Farmers of America, had offered a dairy perspective on immigration reform in a full page, open letter to the President of the United States in the Wall Street Journal and New York Post. His message was pointed at immigrant labor on dairy farms, but DFA’s recent acquisition of the Monroe, Wisconsin cheese factory and the departure of its immigrant workers makes his message resonate across the full dairy supply chain. 

“The fate of the farms required to produce our nation’s food, particularly in dairy, should no longer be subject to political gamesmanship,” Rodenbaugh wrote in July, continuing, “Dairy farming is uniquely demanding, requiring expert, hands-on care for livestock year-round. However, the only agricultural visa available, the H-2A program, is limited to seasonal or temporary work, which is inadequate for dairy operations that require skilled labor every day of the year. These jobs cannot be automated; they demand experience, expertise, and hands-on performance. What’s urgently needed is an immigration policy that addresses the unique challenges of the dairy industry and ensures a sustainable U.S. food supply.” 

Like their dairy farm partners, manufacturers of cheese, butter, yogurt and other dairy products need a year-round workforce, and an aging immigration visa program built on seasonal crop harvesting does not get the job done. 

DFA’s Rodenbaugh summarized the need as: “An effective policy that would provide long-term workers, with a history of good conduct, the opportunity to obtain valid work authorization.” 

Rural communities – the backbone of U.S. dairy and food production – need a growing number of workers, but these non-urban areas face population decline. Dairy consumption and dairy production is growing as consumers see the health benefits inherent in natural, fresh dairy foods. 

Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association (WCMA) members have invested $10 billion in the construction of new cheese, yogurt and dairy protein processing sites in the last three years, and U.S. consumption of cheese – and exports of cheese abroad – have reached record levels in 2025. 

Dairy manufacturers nationwide have spelled out the work they need from Congress in WCMA’s immigration policy platform, including: