Star Tribune
As Trump threatens mass deportations, some rural areas that back him rely heavily on immigrant labor
Matt Bocklund, a Hudson, Wis., Republican activist said in a statement that the Biden administration’s border policies, along with the State Department’s refugee resettlement efforts, could lead to exploitation in the farming industry, where many refugees and immigrants are vulnerable because of weak labor protections and their legal status. That strains rural communities, many of which are already facing economic burdens, he said.
He suggests creating incentives for farmers to use only legal labor; offering tax incentives, job training and possibly wage subsidies to encourage American workers to fill jobs now held by immigrants; and penalizing farmers who hire undocumented workers while encouraging investment in automation through tax credits and subsidies.
In 2020, 62% of Buffalo County, home to Rosenow’s farm, went for Trump. And Wisconsin’s largest milk-producing counties also backed the GOP nominee by hefty margins. Trump lost the past two elections in Minnesota, but in Stearns County, the state’s largest milk producer, 60% of voters backed him
In the late 1990s, Rosenow recalled, it was a struggle to find workers: “The only people that would even respond to an ad were people that had major problems — work histories and stuff where they had dependency issues or they weren’t reliable. … Most Americans won’t work on farms.”
“We were desperate for help,” he said. “We turned to immigrants. And we didn’t want to do that; we didn’t know the language, and we didn’t know the culture … but once we did, we found out how wonderful they were, great workers, great people to be around and people you want to have as your neighbors.”
Today, 13 out of his 18 employees are Mexican. He fills out I-9 and W-4 documents for the workers and said they pay state and federal taxes “like everybody else.” Federal legislative efforts have repeatedly failed to allow dairy farm workers into the legal agricultural guest worker program under the H-2A visa.
A 25-year-old Minneapolis man died following complications from a gunshot wound to the neck Wednesday, nearly three months after being shot in south Minneapolis.
Johnny Birzavi Sanchez Sanchez was struck by gunfire near 31st Street East and Clinton Avenue in the city’s Central neighborhood on July 25. Minneapolis police responded to the area around 1:30 a.m., where they rendered aid until paramedics arrived. Preliminary information indicated that shots were fired from a nearby vehicle at Sanchez, who was riding a motorcycle, striking him in the neck.
He was taken to HCMC and later transferred to North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale, where he died Oct. 16.
No arrests have been made in the case, a police spokesman confirmed Friday.
There have been 59 homicides so far this year, compared to 50 at this point in 2023, according to a Star Tribune database.
“We do not have enough beds to house people,” she said. “We cannot arrest our way out of this issue… What are we going to do with individuals who have been declared incompetent, and we have nowhere to send them?”
Justin Lewandowski, organizing director of the Hamline Midway Coalition and a former Beacon staffer, acknowledged that many participants had specific concerns about Kimball Court. He said the coalition has scheduled another meeting from 6:30-8 p.m. Nov. 7 at Hamline University’s West Hall, room 240, to discuss the building.
Representatives from St. Paul Police, Beacon Interfaith and Jalali are expected to attend.
“We are angry. Who’s not angry? I would be worried if we weren’t upset about these things, but we have hope and we have strength in each other. Am I right?” Lewandowski asked.
Resident Teresa LePiane said all the other issues that the coalition touched on, including the desire for increasing vacant building fees, more affordable housing construction and public transit ridership, were legitimate neighborhood concerns. But she had expected a town hall about the most pressing problems of the neighborhood to have included the quality of life in and around Kimball Court.
“The quality of life in our neighborhood has gone downhill radically over the last couple years, since Beacon took over Kimball Court, and I hold them primarily responsible for the chaos, for the open drug use,” she said. “That’s a dereliction of their duty to us, and I feel like the City Council are not hearing us.”
Star Tribune
Two sentenced for distributing meth that led to two fatal overdoses in northern Minnesota
Two men found guilty of distributing methamphetamine — and tied to two fatal overdoses and a woman’s critical injuries — were sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis.
Dylan Adrian Day, 34, of Minneapolis was sentenced to more than 14 years in federal prison; Bryan Joseph Hodapp, 37, of Gilbert, Minn., will serve just more than 13 years.
The two are connected to the deaths of Mitchell Dale Saltzman, 41, of Virginia, Minn., and Raymond John Lossing, 55, of Cook, Minn., who were found dead by family members in May 2022 in Biwabik Township in northern Minnesota. Two women were taken to a Duluth hospital where one was in life-threatening condition.
A Lake Superior Violent Offender Task Force investigation found that Hodapp had arranged a drug deal between Saltzman, who traveled with one of the women, and Day in the Twin Cities area, according to a news release from St. Louis County.
