June 16: America in Pursuit - Boise State Public Radio hosts Ximena Bustillo

America in Pursuit with Ximena Bustillo: Video automatically transcribed by Sonix

America in Pursuit with Ximena Bustillo: this mp4 video file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Speaker 1:
Good evening everyone. We're going to get started if you want to find your seats. Welcome. Welcome to the community library. I'm Martha Williams, the director of programs and education here at the library. And we're so glad to have you joining us for tonight's program, America in Pursuit, presented in partnership with Boise State Public Radio, the American Pursuit series from NPR, explores the 250 years of this country's history as a nation, from individual stories to popular culture, politics, scientific exploration, conflict and commonalities. This evening, we'll narrow in on Idaho, shaped by all of these forces and our own unique and interconnected histories of the many people who've called Idaho home. Here at the library, we're proud to have the Gene Roger Lane Center for Regional History that works along with other libraries, historical societies, and institutions around the state to hold this history, to make available many perspectives, and to continue documenting for future generations who we are, how we arrived here, and who we're becoming. We like to recommend a book at the beginning of every program here at the library, and I'm going to recommend to you and read just the first couple sentences of Idaho's Place, A New History of the Gem State. And I really love the opening of this book. And this is written by Adam Sowards. Snow and rain fall from the Idaho skies as water. It rolls or seeps down hillsides and into creeks. It collects into larger streams and then rivers. Then rivers converge into larger rivers. It is an impressively complex system in which several parts exist individually.

Speaker 1:
But as they move through space and time, these independent pieces gather together and collect into something larger and then larger still. At the headwaters, the water system seems simple. By the time we see the river downstream, it is the accumulation of countless tributaries and all that flows into each of them. History is like that too. It begins with small things an individual, a family, a village, a year. They interact and accumulate and converge, adding and changing into something altogether new. A town, a region, an economy. An era. Later, downstream, as it were, those constituent parts are so intermingled, so entangled, that it's impossible to discern one strand from another, and we find each piece wrapped up with all the others. So it is with Idaho and its rich past. The waterways of history are abundant. So I love this image of history as a river, accumulating all of our stories into one body. And we can think about how a river carves a landscape, but is also shaped by that landscape that it's traveling through. Um, and a river is complex and mighty because of its many parts that are gathered together and always changing. So I hope you'll check that out or any of the other great Idaho history books we have here in our collection. Now, I'd like to welcome up Tom Michael, who is the general manager of Boise State Public Radio, to begin our program and introduce our guests. Please join me in welcoming him.

Speaker 2:
Thanks, Martha. How civilized. To start with a reading. Um, it's really great. All the great qualities of a library. Um, so I also like to thank the community library for hosting us and our community partners. They've been rotating up on the screen, but Voss's internship of Idaho, Idaho Commission on the Arts, um, and Sun Valley Museum of Art. I think the Cowgirl Congress show opens tomorrow. I'd also like to thank Gail Severin Gallery for her support. Um, Boise State Public Radio, we've had a challenging year, as you know. Um, we remain strong listener supported, nonprofit, independent, um, we work with our national folks at NPR quite a bit. And this is one of those projects. If you've been listening to Morning Edition or All Things Considered, you over the weeks might have heard something from the series America in Pursuit. So if you haven't, please listen for that. And because we've kind of scrambled things, just like a quick update on our, um, FM signals news still at 91.1, um, music now 91.9. That's, you know, part of our family now we have jazz now at 93.5 FM, and then our translators are at 90.5 and 100.3, and we're going to be doing some summer work. Our engineers are going to be coming to Baldy Mountain and Seattle Ridge and do some more work this this summer. But tonight's conversation, um, again, uh, themes related to America 250 and our guests. Uh, I hope they can join me on the stage now. Um, a rising talent at NPR, national NPR correspondent. She's going to lead the panel, which includes Rick Nearabout, CEO of Idaho Dairymen's Association, and Chandra Upreti. He's the field director of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants in Twin Falls. And, um, Jimena has a fantastic opportunity to, um, you know, she lives and works in D.C., but also knows Idaho really well. So this is going to be a fascinating conversation. And thank you much for. Thanks so much for joining us here. And welcome, Jimena.

Speaker 3:
Long walk ups. Hi. Oh, good. It's on. Um, this year, as was mentioned, marks the 250th birthday of the United States of America. And this is a broader series of events put on by NPR that we're hosting across the country. Thinking about America in pursuit. And at first I was like, what are we pursuing? What? What is the pursuit? But of course, it's the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. The focus today, specifically here in Idaho, the 43rd state sits at the crossroads of how familiar we are to those who live here, but are often forgotten nationally, from the Chinese miners and the European and Basque ranchers to the Latin American farm workers. Idaho's history of immigration influences the state's culture today, alongside many of its growing industries like technology and even tourism. And now, today, as of 2019, the Idaho Museum of International Diaspora estimates that more than 120 countries and groups live in this state, and about 14% of the 2 million people in the state identify as Hispanic and Latino. That's according to the census, but it also can fluctuate greatly. For example, where we are Blaine County, that population nearly doubles. With that, I'm excited to be here today and dive into these numbers and this influence more. So I'd like to give, you know, these two guests, Rick and Chandra, some time to introduce themselves.

Speaker 4:
Sure. Thank you. So I'm Rick Nabbout. I am the executive with Idaho Dairymen's Association. So we represent the dairy farmers here in the state of Idaho, and we advocate on their behalf both at a state but also a federal level. And immigration ends up being the top issue that we we advocate on just given that 90% of our workers are foreign born and we don't have access to a visa program. And so this ends up being a very significant issue for our dairy farmers. And trying to find a national fix to this problem is our top priority.

Speaker 5:
Thank you. My name is Chandra. Long before I involved in refugee programs, I was a refugee myself. When I was six months old, my parents were forced to flee their home country of Bhutan and then moved into Nepal in refugee camps where we spent 17 years. All of my almost all of my childhood has been in camps. And we moved to, uh, to Idaho in 2008. Um, I'm very, very proud to be part of this panel and, and to be part of that celebration as we celebrate 250 years of independence. Because for most of my life, I've never had, uh, I've never had a place to call home. And, and this country, America, has been the only place where its identity does not necessarily belong to where you were born or the language your parents speak or, or I think I think it's very important that folks from different walks of life could come together and call America home. And that has that has been a blessing for me. And to be able to celebrate freedom that I do not take lightly. So grateful to be part of the panel and looking forward to the discussion tonight.

Speaker 3:
So I live in Washington, DC, and when I tell people that I'm from Idaho, I get a lot of weird looks, Um, you know, bonus points for anyone that can point to it on a map, but does anyone know what they do? No. Bingo. Potatoes. Um, however, I think Rick would say that the dairy industry, you know, no shade on the potatoes out here is pretty significant. So when we're thinking a little bit about the history of Idaho, um, I'm wondering, Rick, if you can talk a little bit about even going way back what that intersection looks like in your field.

Speaker 4:
Yeah. So dairy, I have to confess, we've always, for the last almost 30 years, been the top commodity with the price of beef. They actually etched us out this last year. But our, our, our beef sales off our dairies end up going to the beef industry. So arguably we're still the largest industry if we get get to count our own beef sales, but no dairy. Um, Idaho's quietly a cattle state. Um, you know, dairy and beef. Uh, we represent 60% of the total ag energy output of the state of Idaho. So we're known for potatoes, but potatoes, they crack the top five. We'll let them stay in the top five. But we're very much a cattle state. Um, and really Idaho's industry grew out of a lot of dairymen being pushed out of California through urbanization and a lot of Dutch and Portuguese families that were looking for the next place to build their operation. And so the mid to late 90s and early 2000, you saw a lot of Californians. They were the original Californians that came, not the ones that just recently came, but the original ones, uh, way back in the 90s. Um, you know, they were selling their land by the foot in Southern California and then moving to Idaho and able to buy, you know, sizable tracts of land to expand their family businesses because their, their whole goal was, how do I expand this family business so that I have something to hand off to my next generation? So that's really where Idaho got its, you know, dairy industry start was being pushed out of California.

Speaker 4:
Do you want me to go deeper than that or. So but in a lot of our dairymen ended up in California as immigrants from Holland or from Portugal, and the Dutch were the first. So. So if you look at the dairy industry, we are predominantly Dutch, Portuguese, and we allow a few Swiss to be sprinkled in there. I've got one board member that he's Swiss, and if I didn't mention the Swiss, he'd somehow find out about it and I'd hear about it. But we're Dutch and Portuguese immigrants mostly, and the Dutch came post-World War two, and there's still a handful of dairymen out there that were children during World War Two. And remember, Nazi occupied Holland. And to hear the stories of, you know, the food drops and everything that they live through. Um, so they came to America post-World War two to pursue opportunities for their families and a lot of them landed in Chino. Um, and half my board of directors, honestly, they graduated from Ontario Christian in Chino, California, and they get to a board meeting and they end up inevitably sharing stories.

Speaker 4:
And, you know, it's, it's, it's just fun to sit and listen because there's just so much culture there. Uh, but people don't recognize that they and their families, you know, there's a lot of first and second generation and now a lot of third generation, but half my board still speaks Dutch. Um, you know, they, they, they kept that up in their families. Um, and so you've got the Dutch piece of the industry that came post World War two, and then you've got the Portuguese immigrants that came, you know, probably 10 to 20 years later after that. Um, and again, pursuing economic opportunity, um, our largest dairymen in the state of Idaho is a Portuguese gentleman that grew up in the Azores with nothing. He immigrated to America with nothing. And now he is one of the largest. He's the largest airman in Idaho, one of the largest dairymen in the country. He's got a friend in Texas, grew up on a neighboring island in the Azores, and he is the largest single owner dairyman in the country again. Came to America with nothing and they just knew how to dairy. They knew cows. They knew how to dairy. And like most immigrants, they're risk takers. And they were willing to just roll everything over every chance they got.

Speaker 4:
Every time they made a dollar, they'd roll it back into the business. And they just wanted to take this economic opportunity that America provides. And honestly, that's what makes it so easy for us to relate to this issue, is the fact that they themselves were the immigrant or their parents, or their grandparents were the immigrant. And so they've been at the dining room table at dinner, hearing the stories. They grew up, you know, learning these stories. And so for us to look at our workers, it's so easy for us to relate Because when our families got to emigrate, it was one one had the opportunity to get over, and then they would send back and be able to bring more family members over. And today that ends up being given a negative connotation. A lot of circles as chain migration, but the reality was one family member would come and get settled, get their feet on the ground. Then they'd bring another family member and another family member, and they'd all be responsible for each other. And our dairyman will ask, to this day, why can't we go back to that system of immigration? Because it really worked well for us as families, to be able to bring our families over and be able to build businesses and create opportunity for ourselves and our friends.

Speaker 3:
So, and I think to put a little bit of a finer point on it, my first job in DC was actually covering food and agriculture policy. And, you know, there is a lot of even government research that shows most farm workers are immigrants. More than 60% might be without work authorization. And then the H2-a program, which is for migrant seasonal workers, is skyrocketing in demand. Now, Rick, you mentioned dairies don't qualify for that H2A visa. Um, can you talk a little bit and you kind of alluded to this, but what is your workforce? Does it mirror national trends even without that visa access.

Speaker 4:
Yeah. So we H2A is the agricultural visa afforded to seasonal and temporary agriculture. And because dairy is year round, uh, we don't have access to it. If you look at fresh produce, um, they also are year round nurseries. There's all these year round agricultural industries like dairy that because we're not seasonal, we're, we're not allowed to use that H2A program. And so when you look at in dairy in the West, Idaho's not unique to the West. The West looks just like Idaho in the dairy industry. Um, when we've got a workforce that's 90% foreign born without access to a visa program, You don't need a maths degree to know that we've got some pretty sizable risk in the amount of workers that we have in country without status. And so we have some pretty significant exposure in terms of if we ever did see some concerted efforts in immigration enforcement on ag employers, you you would see a lot of dairymen have to sell their business just because we can't go, you know, even a day or two without feeding and milking our cattle to where you then start very much harming that animal to where it will no longer be a productive dairy animal. So we have some unique risk and we have some pretty sizable risk in this situation.

Speaker 3:
Rick, how long have you been in this space? The dairy space.

Speaker 4:
My entire life. So I grew up in the industry in Michigan. Small family operation. It only took one trip to California out west to see the size of the dairies in the west, and went back home and us milking our 85 cows. And I was like, whoa there. Hospital pen is bigger than our entire dairy operation. What are we doing? Um, so that was a catalyst for moving west, um, and getting involved, but I spent the entirety of my life in the industry.

Speaker 3:
So when did the topic of immigration become like a thing for you? You know, as, as a policy thing for your industry, it's like you need to be involved with in it in some degree.

Speaker 4:
Yeah. There was, you know, a very stark moment in time where, I mean, we worked on immigration, but it wasn't it wasn't with the same vigor and with the same understanding that we do today. And it was mid to late 2000, and you had DHS agents sitting outside of WinCo and anybody that walked out of WinCo that wasn't white. They asked for documentation. And one of our board members at the time, he was also chairman of our policy committee. Uh, one of his workers came out and fled and called his employer and was basically given his employer kind of a play by play of, you know, where he was running to and where he was at. And, you know, it was the first time that this employer realized he was like, oh, like, I thought he was legal. Like there was no part of me that didn't think that he was without status. And that led to, uh, he was better at hide and go seek than the officers were. So he won. Um, he made it back to the dairy. And you're supposed to laugh at that. You got to add a little, um, made it back to the dairy. Pardon?

Speaker 6:
It's not a laughing matter.

Speaker 4:
You got to have a little humor because this is a tough subject, but, um. So he made it back to the dairy and led to some very profound conversations with the dairy owner and his family about the fact that he and so many other workers have a completely different lifestyle than what the dairyman perceived in terms of they couldn't go to town together out of fear that if both parents got picked up, who would take care of the children and that they had to spend time and think through an emergency plan, if, Lord, you know, heaven forbid that did happen, who's going to take care of the kids? You know, where where are all the assets that they have? You know, they have all these emergency plans. So that was really the first time that our dairyman had this exposure to the level of, of risk we had as an industry and risk that these families had because they're here without status, because what happens in our hiring process is no different than any other hiring process. Our workers show up. They've got documentation that looks as real as any of our driver's licenses or passports or any of the documents that we have. And so we've complete the I-9 forms, we withhold taxes, we pay Social Security, Medicare. And it's it's, you know, on the outside looking in, it's a completely normal hiring process. Well, there wasn't this recognition that they're giving you a random name and social security number to complete that paperwork and you're paying Social Security on.

Speaker 4:
I mean, somebody else is getting that pay in on, on their number. But, you know, there was never the recognition that these weren't actually bona fide documents because they look real on their face. And that was the moment, you know, living through that, that experience. And, you know, the chairman of that committee coming back and saying, hey, we have to do something more than we've been doing in the past because we have risk as employers. But the people that helped us build our businesses have even more risk, and we owe it to them and to us to try and solve this problem and to start to educate the general public on how big this problem is. Because if I didn't realize it as an employer, voters sure as heck don't understand the risk that we have as a community or as an economy that's based in agriculture. And so that was a moment at which we really got involved in earnest and, you know, really started to push and really started to put ourselves out there as an industry and say, hey, we have exposure and you need to know about this because if the voters don't know, you're never going to have enough political will to solve the problem.

Speaker 3:
And this is something, you know, I've spent the last year and a half covering, particularly DHS and immigration policy. But this is not a unique story in that a lot of groups who are involved with immigration policy now began in the mid to late 2000, when former Barack Obama was president, and there was a lot of immigration enforcement nationally. And so when I talk to people from my reporting, a lot of the lessons learned are we're pivoting back to what we did under Obama. And a lot of the arguments that we made under Obama. Now, also in the mid 2000, S Chandra, you come to the state of Idaho and, you know, the the state of Idaho began resettling refugees around like the the 1970s. That's about when the larger national refugee program was established. Not a level set. I think there are a lot of terms that get thrown around asylum seeker, refugee, you know, person that's here without legal status. And there are actually very specific legal definitions that make all of these groups sometimes mutually exclusive. Can you just level set with us and explain like, what is a refugee itself?

Speaker 5:
Thank you. Um, so in Twin Falls, Idaho, we've been doing refugee resettlement since 1980. So we've been there for 46 years. And, and we've, we've only done refugee resettlement. So refugees are people that are forced to flee their home country, um, due to the well-founded fear of persecution. And it could be many different reasons. Sometimes it's religious persecution, sometimes it's political, sometimes it's natural disasters, sometimes it's their affiliations with some groups, so it's no longer safe for them to stay in their own homes. So they would flee their home country and they would go somewhere else and seek refugee status. And this process could take so long. In my own case, it was 17 years. Um, then then you get this status overseas and then you go through a lot of vetting process. So refugees are probably the most vetted people that are coming to America. And, and they come through the US government. It's approved status. It's in partnership with the federal government. And, uh, usually it's at the federal level. They get to decide who gets to come to our country. But then our work begins when we get notification as far as who is coming, then we do the work on the ground level. Um, so it is, it is very distinct, right. And with the asylum seeker, it is a similar situation. They are fleeing, but they're already here in America, and they're asking for that asylum status versus refugees or pre-approved pre-vetted group of people that are coming, coming to our town.

Speaker 3:
I think a lot of people do get that wrong. So just to emphasize, like an asylum seeker has to like be here already. And actually, they only can claim asylum within one year of being in the United States. After that, it gets a lot harder. Um, but someone who is a refugee has been designated a refugee before they even step foot in the country. So someone who's a refugee cannot be an asylum seeker, someone who's an asylum seeker, very hard for them to be a refugee. Now, can you tell me a little bit about how the refugee resettlement program has shaped itself in the state?

Speaker 5:
So in Idaho, um, so since in Twin Falls particularly so we've done refugee resettlement for 46 years, and in those 46 years, we've resettled people from 47 different countries in Twin Falls, Idaho. And every year, typically we bring in about about 200 people. That's that's usually our capacity for Twin Falls. Um, these days it's very different. We do what we call a community resettlement, where folks from different facets of our community are involved in the refugee resettlement process. They have a seat at the table as far as how do we get involved as a community to do resettlement? Um, so these are health care providers, volunteers, teachers, folks from our local government, uh, employers. So wide variety of people involved in this process of refugee resettlement because it takes a village to do refugee resettlement. And as far as our work goes, we get notifications about who is coming based on that. We provide minimal services, which includes ESL program that we we teach them English classes. We have employment services, which is focused on helping them find jobs. We have case management services. We provide rental assistance for a few months. And with the whole idea that centered around self-sufficiency and Twin Falls, 92% of our employable adults, they go to work within just a few months of arrival. So I think that statistics is very telling that folks come here looking for that opportunity to go to work to, to contribute to our community and, and move on with their life. Many of them never had that opportunity in their lifetime. So it is very rewarding for us to, to provide those initial services. They move on with their life and buy homes and, and become very contributing members of our community.

Speaker 3:
And can you talk a little bit about maybe some of the stories you've been a part of, and kind of some of the work you've been able to do in that space?

Speaker 5:
Yeah, absolutely. So I wanted to I wanted to remember a young man from Congo. His name is Vincent. Uh, he came to Twin Falls about one and a half years ago to to our agency. He was born in Congo and moved to a refugee camp and came to Twin Falls. He's deaf and he's non-verbal. So back home he ran into many different issues. Obviously, he was not allowed to work as a refugee, but then he was also not able to communicate. So he's always looked at as a disabled person. He's his entire life. And when he came to our office, we got involved and it was about providing case management services. How do we help him? Obviously, we ran into issues as well, but we partnered with Idaho School of Deaf and Blind and provided transportation for him to to learn American Sign Language so he could communicate with him. And today Vincent is working. He's paying his own rent. Uh, he, he is paying his taxes, but then also he's enjoying his life. Uh, he likes to hang out with his friends and families and enjoying enjoying the true independence that many of us take for granted. And stories like Vincent, I think, remind personally me and the staff around that, the refugee program. It's just not a charity work. It's it's a shared commitment that we have as a community. But then also the amount of impact that we could make in the lives of people we serve. It was very moving. And we see him often at the office now. He's able to communicate and, and move on with his life. So that's, that's one story I remember. Very moving.

Speaker 3:
Mhm. Um, and Rick, kind of back to you, I'm wondering how your work has evolved over, over time in this space.

Speaker 4:
Yeah. So we, we've seen a shift over the last 5 to 8 years where this is a federal issue. Uh, the Constitution is very clear that when it comes to deciding who gets to come and go in our country, it's the federal government, it's Congress. It's not state legislatures, but because you're seeing so much frustration and the lack of movement, uh, within Congress on solving the problem, you're now seeing, you know, red states and blue states take their own flavor and trying to address this in state legislatures. And here in Idaho, obviously a very red state. Um, we've had some pretty unfortunate policy ideas come forward the last few years. And, you know, this last year was easily the most aggressive. And you had the Heritage Foundation, which is a D.C. think tank from the right, uh, pushed seven, uh, seven concepts or seven agenda items. They held a press conference early on in session, uh, to, to roll out their seven priorities and, you know, really tried hard to, to force that onto the state as what they thought would be good policy. Uh, everything from, uh, you know, requiring, uh, when, when you go register your kid for k through 12 education to registered nationality and your current immigration status. Uh same for hospitals on their intake where they would have to record similar information and track it and report it to, to the legislature.

Speaker 4:
Uh, to criminalizing, uh, nonprofits and individuals that assisted individuals that are here without status. Um, probably the two that got the most attention, uh, and were what really, you know, was, was at the heat of the end of session were 287 G agreements mandatory, 287 G agreements, uh, for law enforcement, uh, forcing local law enforcement to go into those agreements with Ice and then mandatory E-Verify and criminalizing individuals that hired somebody without status. So, I mean, they ran the Gantlet and really, uh, we had a great result in pushing back on those ideas. We've got a wonderful coalition that we work with. It's Idaho Alliance for Illegal workforce. Everything from ag employers like ourselves to construction to hospitality, hospitals, law enforcement. The coalition runs the gamut of different sectors of our economy and sectors of our community that have touch points with the immigrant communities, immigrants that are with us. And, you know, so the hospitals took on the hospital reporting bill, and Catholic Charities took on the, you know, attack on nonprofits. We in ag employers and particularly the dairy industry took on the E-Verify issue. And so we all took our issue.

Speaker 4:
So it was a different face in front of committee, which was strategic. It wasn't just the same people up there testifying and pushing back every time it was somebody new to show the breadth of the impact of these bad policies to the legislators. And so they went zero for seven on their priorities, which was fantastic. If you would have asked us at the beginning of session if we could have cut a deal, we said, fine, we'll give them two of seven. Let them pick two. We'll give them two. We'll take the other five off the table. That's that's what we thought of our odds going into session. We didn't think we could go seven for seven. And so it thank you. But it was that coalition. It was people stepping up that we didn't expect to step up that really made that difference. And, you know, anybody else that is facing this in a red state that is our counsel to them is work on building yourself a coalition that's a broad base that's bigger than just your organization or your focus, because you've got to have that broad support. If you're going to be successful. Without that coalition, we couldn't have done it by ourselves.

Speaker 3:
I think kind of speaking about coalitions, I think immigration can kind of seem like a siloed issue. Like if you yourself are not an immigrant or if you don't, you're not in that space, it can seem almost like detached. Um, so I'm wondering like Chandra from your side when it comes to building coalitions, what are groups or organizations or state agencies that your organization works in partners with that you know, people might not think of?

Speaker 5:
Yeah. Um, so USC, I work for USC and it is a big network and our headquarter is based in Washington, D.C. so they do, um, a lot of different works at their level, including immigration work and refugee work and legal work. And, and it has evolved over the course of time. But as far as Twin Falls itself, uh, we're very fortunate that we have Unity Alliance of Southern Idaho and Dairymen's Association is one of the founder of Unity Alliance of Southern Idaho, where we have people from different parts of, of our local community that are that are engaged in that, uh, in that organizations. And it's always important that what works, I think in Twin Falls is we want our local people to have a say. And then having that local community and has been very influential, um, especially during tough times. Right. It is, it is a political issues, obviously. And um, they're always loud voices. Um, so, so I think having the group of people, um, has been very important and on a personal level, I am also involved in different nonprofit organizations and getting to know people and meet people. Um, so it's work in progress, but, but I do second that the more we could organize as a group, it is a better approach to get things done.

Speaker 3:
Um, you know, you both work in very different industries. Um, you know, what would you say is a misconception about where you're both at?

Speaker 4:
I mean, the biggest misconception we run up against is and you hear the rhetoric from the far right. You know, we pay slave wages. Um, what am I, dairymen board members? He was he was in the office when I ended up getting a phone call and talking through the issue. And he was listening to, you know, the side of the conversation he could hear and he knew it was, you know, I was pushing back on somebody on this accusation. And he had just signed off on his payroll, uh, the day before. Uh, and so he backed himself into, he knew what the gross number of his payroll was, and he backed himself into, okay, what's my average wage? Taking that payroll, all my employees, what's my average wage? $52,000 is the average salary in his dairy operation. And so that is the biggest misconception is that dairymen, one, people think they know who amongst their workforce does and doesn't have status. And then they differentiate pay based on that, because they can they assume they can take advantage of somebody here without status and pay them less than they pay somebody else. And we run up against that time and time again. And we always explain like, hey, our, our hiring process is no different than any other employee. We, we know as an industry sector that agriculture in and of itself, half of every on farm worker in this country is here without status, regardless of whether it's a dairy worker or a row cropper or an orchard worker. Like half of all the on farm labor in this country is here without status. So as a sector, we know we've got a high degree of individuals here without status, but we don't know from one worker to the next who does and doesn't have status. And people just struggle to actually believe that, especially the more conservative the audience, the tougher that conversation is.

Speaker 5:
And I just wanted to add to that. When it comes to refugee resettlement, there is a lot of misconception that, oh, they're bringing in people that that are going to come to our town and be on public benefits and food stamp and Medicaid and all that. And that's one of the biggest misconceptions in the community. But again, we have the data that shows that 92% of our clients go to work within a few months of arrivals, and within 2 or 3 years of them being being in Twin Falls, they're buying homes and they're opening up businesses. And, and I, I think it is undeniable that there is so much demand for workforce. A lot of our clients, they work at Chobani dairies, different potato factories, hospitality industry, it's across the board. And they're willing to take any job that's available to them. And that's that. And I also have to mention that despite all the all the loud noises, I'm very fortunate that that Twin Falls obviously is a very welcoming community because I lived there for 18 years of my life. And, and also we, we have a refugee day that's coming up, which is this Friday, June 19th. We've got some fliers as well if you're interested. But for this event, this Friday. We've got 79 sponsors and supporters and employers that are coming to support this event, and we're expecting about 250 people to attend the event. And oftentimes when I talk to my folks in DC, they're like, oh, Idaho. I'm like, no, it's our Idaho that is welcoming. And, and it is a community work. And so I'm very, very proud. But also there's always those noises that are there. I believe there are just a few, but loud. Right. So, um, I just wanted to share that.

Speaker 3:
Idaho is catching a lot of flack everywhere. I feel like, um, what is one thing, you know, kind of separate from misconceptions, but you know, for each of you, what is one thing you want people to kind of take away from this?

Speaker 5:
You go first. Will you will you were thinking it. Okay. All right. Okay. So I think I think it's very personal to me, you know, Growing up in a camp where I spent all my childhood in a refugee camp, not really fighting for food every day, surviving one day at a time. That's what my life has. Life was before coming to America. I did not know anything. We never had access to electricity, water. Forget about internet and all the technology. We just never had a life. So for for someone like me to be able to come to America and, and have a family and be a member of this community, it is something that I would have never imagined and I'm really grateful for. For folks that kept me alive for 17 years of my life in camps, people that I've never met that fed me, people that provided me shelter and, and for many of us. So I think it's just if there's anything I could ask for is a bit of compassion and openness to provide a chance to, to people like me. And obviously I'm biased because I've lived that life. But also I think that a little bit of compassion could go a very, very long way. And many of my friends that came as refugees are always thinking of, how can we give back to the community that provided us a place to call home? And I've got I've got two girls and I cannot get them to understand the life I lived. Right. Because they're born here in Idaho. They're like, oh, this daddy always same story and they just get bored. But but really, really grateful for, for community and people like all of you, even just for you to be here and, and willing just to listen out. Um, so, so my ask is that bit of a compassion for, for our clients to give that chance so they could have a life.

Speaker 4:
I think one takeaway that I'd like you to have, and it's something we preach to our dairymen and fellow ag employers is if we're going to solve this problem, we're going to have to settle for less than perfect. And we all talk about how democracy is wonderful and compromise is good until it comes to us having to compromise on something we find important. And I know it's tough because we're talking about people. This isn't money. This isn't something easier to compromise on. These are actual human lives that are being impacted in some of these decisions. But we're not all going to get our own way in this. The the other side isn't going to get their own way. But if we're going to see legislation make make it through Congress and find 60 votes in the Senate, because this is an issue that takes 60 in the Senate, it's going to be less than perfect, because you're going to have to find 15 to 20 from the other party any way you cut it. And at times, that's a really tough pill to swallow, because there's things that are important to a lot of us that probably don't make it in a package that will get 60 votes in the Senate. And so I would just encourage you all that as you're looking at this issue, as you're talking to your neighbors and friends about this issue, carry that message forward, that we're not all going to get everything we want in this debate and in this problem solving, and we're going to have some tough compromises. I mean, there's some legislative proposals out there related to agriculture, and we're backing them. But the reality is there's not everything in those packages that we want. But it's a heck of a lot better than what we currently have.

Speaker 3:
I think we're a few minutes away from opening the can of worms for questions. Um, are we doing the note card thing? We are.

Speaker 6:
Are they on the screen? The background of these two people. It would be helpful. Like if I want to know more about his organization. We have that up on the screen.

Speaker 3:
I think it's rotating through. Oh, it hasn't in a while. Um, maybe we can get that slideshow running again. Um, okay, so everyone has a note card, right? Or anyone that wants one. Oh, someone's going around with them.

Speaker 6:
Okay.

Speaker 3:
Okay. So if anyone has a question, write them on the note cards. Um, raise your hand over there with the note card so people see you. And then I will. I should have asked for them earlier. So you don't have to watch me read them.

Speaker 6:
Everyone can read the bios while you're reading. So everyone's reading.

Speaker 3:
Great. There you go. We can all take a minute.

Speaker 6:
You have to have a big heart to ask a question.

Speaker 3:
Yes you do, and she is over there. So raise your hand if you want to know card or if you have one. Um, okay. First questions for Rick. Um, regarding activities in the state legislature, you have kind of come off as on a defensive posture, you know, needing to defeat bills that are being proposed, you know, are there any solutions you are on the offensive about and are looking to get in?

Speaker 4:
I would say we were offensive in the primary. Um, you have to work with the body that is elected and you go in years past and we were very much behind, uh, authorized driver's license for those here without status. We don't have the right makeup in the body to push that bill right now. Leadership won't won't give it the time of day knowing that if you're going to look at this from a Republican perspective, you're going to push a bill that is going to be a very tough vote on their caucus that then gives the far right something to campaign on to try and beat them in the next primary. And so you can't get offensive on some of these issues until we get a better makeup in the body. Those of you that followed the May primaries and followed district 24 and 25, you know, the dairy industry put it all on the line in district 24. Um, you look at the race, we had the Washington Post out here running stories on that race, and I could not be more proud of my dairymen. They don't want to be in the political spotlight. They want to be on their farm, you know, with cattle, not with politicians and out in the public spotlight like that. That's just not it's not their M.O. but they took that race head on. They made they made some tough business decisions that got very public. No doing of their own. They made a. They made a private business decision that somebody else made public. But they took that race head on. And honestly, I've never seen some of our dairymen be more assertive in a primary season than what we saw this year, so we weren't able to be offensive in the session. We very much were able to be offensive. And who got elected in 24?

Speaker 3:
I'm not sure who the next question is for, but I would love to hear both of your answers. Um, you know, we've mentioned this a few times. Idaho Red state known for being pretty conservative, including, you know, eastern Idaho, Twin Falls. Um, can you talk a little bit about how your organizations got started? So I think this question might be for Chandra, which of course, 1970s, long time ago. Um, but, you know, how does it no offense. How does it, how does it, um, how how has it continued to evolve since then? Um, you know, and I think here again, 1970s, there's a long arc here of immigration policy that spans political parties and policies that have gone either which way, um, federally and statewide on, on political parties. So. Well, it's not just a Republican or Democrat issue. There are current stances. So can you talk a little bit about the role of that?

Speaker 5:
Yes, I think I can tackle well, obviously, I'll start from 2008, when I when I came to Twin Falls, um, it was, it was very different. Many people in Twin Falls did not know refugee resettlement, right. So meet people as a, you know, went to school and met neighbors and employers. So they really did not know that refugee resettlement existed. And I started working, working as an interpreter for the same office, and then did different works within the refugee resettlement as a case manager and other stuff. Uh, but, uh, I, I've been director for about two years. I'm new as a director for Twin Falls office. But what we have been able to do is to really expose the community that, hey, we are here, we exist. We've been here for 46 years. It's not new. And, and the community is in it. So, you know, we as a part of Unity Alliance, our chief of the police is the president of the board. He's out there, the mayor of Twin Falls employers, including Chobani and dairies and other employers that employs refugees. So what we were able to do is a lot of outreach out in the community to tell the community that we belong, this is our home, and then that we we want to be part of this community. And and along that line, I think we've done really mass outreach, but then also really to, to fight those misconceptions that we're here, we're working, we contribute back and all that. So I think it has changed quite significantly as far as educating people and inviting people for things like Refugee Day, we're inviting the public to come and attend and get to know us. So I think there's a lot of outreach and and it's work, work in progress. I think we got a long way to go, but those are some of the things that has evolved.

Speaker 4:
Yeah. So Idaho Dairymen's Association, we've been around since 1924. So just celebrated our 100th year, um, you know, started by dairy farmers, um, back then. And, you know, I don't think when they started it, they'd ever be advocating on this issue. Um, you know, typically they figured they'd be fighting with processors about milk price and farmers about feed price and other stuff. But um, this issue, for reasons we've already discussed, has become front and center and maybe a little bit on the strategy that we employ, both at a national but also at a state level, at a national level. We've got a good contingency, and maybe some of you in the room disagree with our delegation in D.C. at times, but we've got a good delegation in D.C. in. You've got Mike Simpson and Mike Crapo will take this issue on. And our two very good advocates on it. Um, and they're proving that you can be an adult about immigration and get yourself reelected as a Republican because a lot of Republicans fear, well, if I take on immigration, I'm going to get beat my primary. Both those guys have proven that you can do that at a federal level and get yourself reelected. But we recognize we've only got a couple votes as Idaho. And so we have to work across other coalitions. So, uh, National Council of AG Employers, National Immigration Forum, um, ag workforce Coalition, we work across a number of coalitions that have touch points in other states that you can then bring along votes on this issue in other states, because we don't have a lot of people, so we don't have a lot of votes.

Speaker 4:
So that's our strategy at a federal level, at a state level. We spend a lot of time trying to work with the immigrant community through organizations like Poder or Hispanic Chambers, Unity Alliance, and shout out to Miranda Irby. She's the lead for Unity Alliance. She's here tonight. Give everybody a good wave. Miranda. Great people back there. Um, you know, it's trying to make sure that we keep that touch point with the immigrant communities through the organizations that represent them better than we can as an ag employer. You know, we can carry the ag employer voice in the business voice, which we can say things in a Capitol building in ways that an advocate for an immigrant cannot. Um, there's times where it's better if ACLU doesn't testify on a bill because if they testify, they'll just because they're in favor of something, they'll get no votes because they're the ACLU. And there's perceptions about that. So, you know, we try to work with the groups that represent the immigrant community and make sure that we have good lines of communication, good relationships there, so we can have some of these conversations on trying to find the best strategy to advocate.

Speaker 3:
And, uh, there's another question that I think is kind of along these lines, and I'm sorry, I was reading some questions, so maybe you already answered it, but, um, can you talk about the specific state ag coalitions that you might be working with, like the other ag industry groups or, um, you know, kind of some other partners you have in that space?

Speaker 4:
Yeah, I will say, I mean, amongst the ag crowd, Idaho Farm Bureau is our strongest ally on this issue. Um, you know, they they've really found their footing in the last few years. And kudos to their board and to Zach Miller, their exec, who's, you know, he's in the role 7 or 8 years now. Um, they found their footing on this issue and have recognized it's the biggest issue facing their membership across the state. Um, but that Idaho Alliance for Illegal Workforce is the primary coalition we work with at a state level. So we're meeting weekly during session comparing notes on the bills that are coming forward, assigning who's going to take on which bill and you know, who's going to be the face of the the pushback on the different pieces of legislation. And so that coalition and there's a I'm drawing a blank on the actual website, but if you just Google Idaho Alliance for Legal Workforce, the website will pop up there. Um, doing a lot of economic research in that group. Because if you're going to talk to Republicans, the economy still is a message that resonates with Republican voters and so on. There you can find research that we've done with the McClure center, as well as research we've done with some other economists that are University of Idaho economists in the School of Business. So, you know, really trying to add facts to the conversation across the coalition and be able to articulate, hey, here's what's at risk. If you take away this workforce, this is what it will cost Idaho's economy. And that seems to be the message that resonates most with Republican voters. And so you've got to meet them where they're at.

Speaker 3:
Another one for Rick popular man. He, um, I think people kind of want to know, you know, you kind of mentioned one thing you hear a lot in DC is don't let perfect be an enemy of the good, right? Like, I think the amount of times that I've heard lobbyists say that countless. What does a federal immigration bill that you could support look like?

Speaker 4:
Really? I mean, I'll boil it down to two points. We need a way to legalize the existing workers and their immediate family that are here with them. And we need access to a visa program, so we're not in this place in the future. Those are our primary two pillars that we advocate for. And the problem is, once you start to get into the mud of trying to get those two things, everybody's got their little piece, their little nuance that they want to add to it. And that's where you end up, you know, with this, you know, push and pull. We fully recognize that every iteration of an immigration bill that's come forward the last 15 years, the trade off for us getting legalization and access to a visa is mandatory E-Verify. And we're to the point, if you'll give us those two, those two, we'll give you E-Verify. Like we're not afraid to E-Verify if we actually have rules of the game that aren't stacked against us, to where we have a pathway to procure workers that will fill jobs in our economy that otherwise won't go filled, because this isn't anything more than a math problem. We have more jobs than we have domestic workers because of our birth rate and the fact that we don't produce enough children or people naturally to, to fill the jobs. So we can either choose to have an immigrant workforce to fill the jobs that we can't fill with our domestic workforce, or we can choose to shrink our economy. Those really are the two options before us, because if we don't fill these jobs with people born in other countries, then the jobs go unfilled and our economy shrinks.

Speaker 3:
So for Chandra, kind of pivoting a little bit to this weekend, you have this event coming up. I think people kind of want to know a little bit more about it. You said about 250 people are going to be there. Who do you think is going to come to this event?

Speaker 5:
Thank you. So, um, for our event this Friday, we've got some fliers and I've got my staff there. You guys want to wave your hand so people could connect. Um, so, so this event Friday, um, is to celebrate the people that that we have helped resettle. So as far, as far as the audience, we have diverse group of people coming to the event. We got. We have employers, teachers, folks from health departments, doctor's offices. We got elected officials coming as well for former mayor will be there. The chief of the police is one of the speaker. We got folks from Dairymen's, Jamie Neil, the government affairs. He's also one of the speaker. We have a former refugee who who is now a professor at at college. He is also one of the speaker. Um, and we may have people from Senator Crapo's office and and also Senator Risch office. We've invited them as well. So. And a lot of the people were expecting our the employers that are employing refugees is they're seeing this need for workers and the demand that continues to exist. So we've got a lot of employers that have sponsored the event. Uh, so then all of you are also invited. So if you need more information. Uh, we've got fliers. Um, and we are, we're bringing in food from five different countries. So there'll be food from, from South Africa. Um, that's a new group of people. We're resettling South Africa, Ukraine, Congo, Nicaragua and Burma. It's five countries I think I passed.

Speaker 6:
So refugees or asylum seekers will not be there because they'd be afraid of ice, right.

Speaker 5:
So refugees will be there and we only do refugee resettlement in our office. So these are people that are here legally that are here to stay. So they're they're well, there is some fear now, obviously, with because what they're also trying to do is they want to revert refugees that are already here, that have been in camps, spend years and years going through this process. So that has caused a lot of fears, even amongst the most vetted group of people that are coming to our community.

Speaker 3:
Yeah, I think just to underscore, there's a legal definition difference between a refugee and an asylum seeker and refugee Resettlements only work with refugees for the most part. Um, asylum seekers, it's, it's more of like a, it's something you claim once you're already here. Um, but they're, they're two different groups. Um, now one question for, for both of you, as you've both kind of brought up Idaho's delegation, people always want to know what their congressman, congresswoman, senator is doing. Um, you know, can you talk a little bit about their involvements, at least in some of your work?

Speaker 4:
Yeah. So, so I'll, I'll start, um, you know, again, Congressman Simpson and Senator Crapo are going to be the two leads for us on this issue in D.C. Um, you know, right now you've, you've got a conversation around a draft text that's come forward in the last two weeks from House AG chairman G.T. Thompson. Um, he had an ag working group, uh, for a couple of years looking at this issue bipartisan. Um, and from that ag working group, they took the recommendations and drafted an immigration bill for agriculture from that working group. Um, you have to understand this, this issue is not germane to the House AG Committee. This issue is germane to judiciary. Uh, representative Jim Jordan is chairman of of judiciary in the House. Um, really not friendly to us on this issue. But, you know, he's, he's indicated he's willing to give this bill a chance if it gets to his committee and give it due process, which is, you know, about all we can ask for from the chairman if we're going to be real in adults about the conversation. We probably all have our opinions on Mr. Jordan, but if he gives us a hearing, perfect. That that's that's what we need. Uh, Mike Simpson, you know, we got bill draft bill text on a Friday afternoon, uh, over Memorial weekend. And we had a board meeting Tuesday morning and Congressman Simpson was in our boardroom just I mean, the timing just happened to work out. It wasn't that we got the bill text and we called Mike and he came running. I wished I wished I had that kind of control, but just happened to work out that Mike was with our board that day.

Speaker 4:
And we walked them through what we understood of the bill text and asked him, would you be an original co-sponsor? And without hesitation in front of my board of directors, said, absolutely. This is kind of kind of bill we need, and I'll absolutely be a be an original co-sponsor of this. So once again, you know, Mike Simpson is out there willing to take on this issue head on and trying to advocate for a bipartisan solution. Um, we're starting to get co-sponsors coming forward. A couple critical Democratic co-sponsors are on that bill. Uh, Don Davis, uh, was the lead Democrat in the AG working Group, is on the House AG Committee. He came forward in the last week. He's an original co-sponsor as well as Representative Riley out of New York. So giving us some momentum on the, uh, on the D side of the aisle to find more Democrats to come along with us because we need we need Dems, we're going to lose Republicans on this issue. So we need Dems and that the more Dems we can find, the better our chances of finding 60 in the Senate are. Um. Sat down with Senator Crapo's staff last week, was in DC, sat down with them, very open to discussing it and trying to find a pathway on the Senate side. So again, our delegation, uh, you know, we're, we're viewed as being this very deep red state, but delegation is very willing to take on these issues and try to advocate with our colleagues and try to find us a pathway forward to solving this problem.

Speaker 5:
And I'll just add a little bit to that. I think as far as the involvement, we we have what we call a quarterly consultations, and that's in partnership with Boise office, where we have state refugee coordinators, and we invite people from different facets of our community and senators and congresspeople and school district health care, police department. They're all invited. And we meet every three months to discuss refugee resettlement. If there are any issues that we can work together to discuss some of the success stories and whatnot. Um, I was in Washington DC as well last week and, um, um, we met with Senator Crapo and Senator Reid's office. And it was interesting that with Senator from Idaho, Senator Rice, who is on the chair of Foreign Affairs and, um, was able to bring up the issue in Sudan about the mass killing that's happening and the number of atrocities that are happening there and see what can be done. And it was I was very proud that we have Senator from Idaho who is doing things that are, well, far beyond. But I did run into an issue. I mean, I would go to this office and I was hoping, are you from Idaho? You know, and we can't it was hard to find for me to find people from Idaho working in senator's office. You know, people from Baltimore or Virginia. Chicago? Where are people from? Idaho? Here. And anyway, uh, but it was a great productive meeting and, and, uh, and the involvement around refugee resettlement, I think is, is pretty good in Idaho, but also it's the, the approach of doing refugee resettlement in Idaho that, that works, right? So, um, obviously we are a conservative town and sometimes, you know, maybe I think we all are conservative, right? Because it's our home. But then also, I think there is a conservative way of doing good things. And I think it happens in Idaho.

Speaker 4:
Yeah. I will say a shock for a lot of people that start working and get themselves back to D.C. and start to visit congressional and Senate offices. D.c. is a town run by a bunch of 20 year olds. And literally, you go. I mean, it's nothing but 20 year olds that are staffing your congressmen and your senators. So it's a town run by a bunch of 20 year olds in geriatrics.

Speaker 3:
And we need us all. Um. Um, amazing. Well, everyone give Rick and Chandra a round of applause. Questions just to make sure. No floating, no cards in the universe. Okay. Wonderful. I don't know how to land the plane. Thank you all for being here today. Thank you so much, Tom. Um, please enjoy the rest of the time here in this beautiful library.

Speaker 7:
She's not. How are you? Yeah, yeah. Just. What? I said. Well. Thank you. Well. I actually.

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