Once a stalwart Republican, this Wisconsin dairy farmer is reconsidering his position because of ICE and immigration

Dairy cows wander and graze on O'Harrow Family Farm acreage.  

For decades, being a Wisconsin dairy farmer and voting Republican went hand in hand for Tim O'Harrow and his family. But GOP immigration politics and Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions are no longer in sync with the O'Harrows' experience and what they feel is moral, reports Sabrina Tavernise for The New York Times. Some family members are considering shifting their political alliances.

"Immigrant workers are the lifeblood of the O’Harrow farm, a four-generation family enterprise with 1,600 cows in northeastern Wisconsin," Tavernise writes. "But many of them will not travel to Mexico to see dying parents, or drive to nearby towns to visit siblings... because they are afraid of being swept up in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown."

The second Trump administration's approach to immigration doesn't make good business sense to Tim O'Harrow or his son, Joel, who runs the farm. Tavernise explains, "These workers oversee America’s milk. By one estimate, dairies that employ immigrant workers produce 79% of the nation’s milk supply, and the price of milk would double without them."

Tim O'Harrow knows conflicts over undocumented immigrant farm workers aren't a new problem. He's been talking to politicians in Washington and in Madison, Wisconsin, the state's capital city, for 20 years, asking them to create a visa system or path to citizenship for these vital workers. But politics have gone the opposite way.

"Washington has failed to make any meaningful changes, and Republican voters continue to be anti-immigration, particularly those in Wisconsin," Tavernise reports. "That has left the O’Harrows in an uncomfortable place — stuck between what they see as an obvious truth, that immigrants are essential to America’s food supply, and a national political mood hurtling in the other direction."

Tim O'Harrow told the Times, "I don’t know that I’m a Republican anymore. I don’t know what we are anymore.”

Both Tim and his son told the Times they would be open to voting for a Democrat in future elections. Tavernise writes, "And for the first time in 20 years, a Democratic primary will be held in their district, a sign that the party believes it has a chance to flip what has been a solidly Republican seat."

For more explanation on why a stalwart GOP family would consider voting for a Democrat, read the full story here.