8 Comments
User's avatar
Josiah Wearin's avatar

Another important reminder of the complex issues which cry out for a functioning and reasonable Congress. Thank you!

Expand full comment
Kent Zimmerman's avatar

👍

Expand full comment
Jane Nguyen's avatar

My first Venezuelan student arrived here this week. He and his family lived in New York for one year before moving to Des Moines.

Expand full comment
Cheryl Tevis's avatar

Thank you for sharing this. He's had a lifetime of experiences already in his young life. Thanks for being there to help provide and safe and caring environment!

Expand full comment
Joy's avatar

Thanks so much for this, Cheryl. You may be interested in this ProPublica piece about the death of an 8 yr old Nicaraguan boy in a farm accident in Wisconsin. It highlights the difficulties these good people have. Check out this article from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Death on a dairy farm: What really happened to 8-year-old Jefferson Rodríguez

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/wisconsin/2023/02/23/boy-killed-dane-county-dairy-farm-police-blamed-the-wrong-man-his-father/69916270007/

Expand full comment
Cheryl Tevis's avatar

Thanks, Joy. I think that I've read about it because I lived in Wisconsin for a few years, and later spent a lot of years writing for a national publication about safety for farm children. Unfortunately, the intertwining of farm work and raising kids on the farm (often bystanders to the work) can be a lethal/hazardous combination. In this case, language barriers and his status as the son of a single-parent employee also exacerbated the situation. I will read it, and I appreciate your bringing this to my attention!

Expand full comment
Joy's avatar

Just saw another ProPublica piece today about deaths obnoxious WI dairy farms. It’s so disturbing.

Check out this article from Post Crescent:

Dairy workers on Wisconsin’s small farms are dying. Many of those deaths are never investigated.

https://www.postcrescent.com/story/news/local/wisconsin/2023/10/25/many-deaths-on-wisconsin-small-dairy-farms-are-never-investigated-osha/71304427007/

Expand full comment
Cheryl Tevis's avatar

I had not read this. Initially, I thought, OSHA won't do anything on a farm with 11 or fewer employees. But the fact that OSHA did not even conduct an investigation and then makes the distinction about a year-round dairy farm only being a "temporary labor camp" is egregious. Thank you.

Expand full comment