Wisconsin will receive an estimated $1 billion more annually in federal funds for Medicaid because the state budget includes a change that pre-empts a provision in President Donald Trump’s big bill.
Trump’s bill would have prevented Wisconsin from raising its hospital tax.
But days before Trump signed it, the Republican-led Legislature and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers approved a 2025-27 state budget that raises Wisconsin’s hospital tax from 1.8% to 6%.
The increase will raise some $1 billion more annually in federal matching funds that the state can use to pay hospitals for care they provide Medicaid patients.
Wisconsin’s largest Medicaid program is BadgerCare Plus, which provides health insurance to about 1 million low-income people age 64 and under.
Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, who represents western Wisconsin, claimed that Trump’s bill “secured” the $1 billion.
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Boosting corrections officers’ pay initially helped address chronic staffing shortages in Wisconsin prisons, but vacancies have been rising again in recent months.
Corrections officers say the trend is predictable as new officers, attracted by competitive starting wages, discover the demands of the work. Improving training, safety and workplace culture would help, they say.
Some Democratic lawmakers, prisoner rights advocates and even correctional officers argue that reducing the prison population would improve conditions for inmates and staff.
Responding to staffing shortages that imperiled guards and staff, Wisconsin lawmakers in 2023 significantly increased pay for corrections officers — hoping to retain and attract more workers to the grueling job.
It helped, at least initially. But following significant progress, staffing vacancies are again growing in many Wisconsin prisons. The data support a common complaint from correctional officers and their supporters: The Department of Corrections and the Legislature must do more to retain officers in the long run. Improving training, safety and workplace culture would help, they say.
Meanwhile, some Democratic lawmakers, prisoner rights advocates and correctional officers argue that reducing the prison population would improve conditions for inmates and staff by reducing overcrowding and easing tensions.
The two-year budget Gov. Tony Evers signed last week included a small boost in funding for programs geared at limiting recidivism and additional funding to plan the closure of one of Wisconsin’s oldest prisons. But Republicans removed broader Evers proposals that focused on rehabilitating prisoners, and a plan to close Green Bay’s 127-year-old prison includes few details.
“Reducing the number of people we incarcerate in Wisconsin is critical, both because of the harm that mass incarceration does to individuals and communities, and because of the resulting stress from overburdening prison staff,” Rep. Ryan Clancy, D-Milwaukee, told Wisconsin Watch. “Packing more people into our prisons leads to worse services and worse outcomes when incarcerated folks are released back into the community.”
Wisconsin Watch and The New York Times last year detailed how Wisconsin officials for nearly a decade failed to take significant steps to slow a hemorrhaging of corrections officers that slowed basic operations to a crawl. During that period prisoners escaped, staff overtime pay soared and lockdowns kept prisoners from exercise, fresh air and educational programming, leading some to routinely threaten suicide.
Waupun Correctional Institution is shown on Aug. 29, 2024, in Waupun, Wis. Staffing vacancies at the prison peaked at 56% that year but now hover around 20%. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
At Waupun Correctional Institution, staffing vacancies peaked at 56% in February 2024, leaving more positions open than filled.
As aging staff members retired, the state struggled to replace them, particularly after Act 10, a sweeping 2011 state law that gutted most public workers’ ability to collectively bargain for more attractive conditions. Vacancy rates steadily climbed to 43% in the state’s maximum-security prisons and 35% across all adult institutions before pay raises took effect in October 2023.
Following two years of partisan infighting, the Republican-led Legislature approved a compensation package that increased starting pay for corrections officers from $20.29 to $33 an hour, with a $5 add-on for staff at maximum-security prisons and facilities with vacancy rates above 40% for six months straight.
Within a year, vacancy rates plunged as low as 15% at maximum-security prisons and 11% across all adult prisons.
Rep. Mark Born, a Beaver Dam Republican who co-chairs the Legislature’s budget-writing Joint Finance Committee, credited legislative action with greatly reducing staffing shortages.
“As I’ve talked to the prisons in my district, they’re happy to see that the recruit classes are much larger and the vacancies are about half of what they were prior to the action in the last budget,” he told Wisconsin Watch.
Vacancies rise following initial progress
It’s true that vacancies are nowhere near their previous crisis levels. Those include rates in Waupun and Green Bay, where officials previously locked down prisoners during severe staffing shortages. Green Bay now has just over half the vacancy rate it had during the height of the crisis. Waupun has recovered even more dramatically. After plunging much of last year, its vacancy rate has hovered near 20% in recent months.
But vacancies are increasing across much of the prison system, corrections data show. As of July 1, rates reached 26% at maximum-security prisons and more than 17% overall. The department has lost more than 260 full-time equivalent officer and sergeant positions over the past nine months.
The vacancy rate at Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, which has the most gaping staffing shortage, reached 41% on July 1, up from a low of 11% a year ago.
Push to close Green Bay prison
The new state budget appropriated $15 million “to develop preliminary plans and specifications” to realign the Department of Corrections and eventually close the Green Bay prison, whose vacancy rate has grown from a low of 9% last October to nearly 25%.
Republicans proposed closing the prison by 2029, but Evers used his veto power to remove that date, saying he objected to setting a closure date “while providing virtually no real, meaningful, or concrete plan to do so.”
How a future prison closure would shape long-term population trends may hinge on what replaces the prison. Evers earlier this year proposed a $500 million overhaul to, among other provisions, close the Green Bay prison; renovate the Waupun prison — adding a “vocational village” to expand workforce training; and convert the scandal-plagued Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake youth prison into an adult facility.
Republicans rejected that more ambitious proposal in crafting the bill that became law.
Green Bay Correctional Institution’s front door reads “WISCONSIN STATE REFORMATORY,” a nod to its original name, in Allouez, Wis., on June 23, 2024. Many have pushed for the closure of the prison, constructed in 1898, due to overcrowding and poor conditions. The latest two-year state budget appropriates funding to plan its replacement. (Julius Shieh / Wisconsin Watch)
Closing the Green Bay prison without replacing its capacity might reduce the prison population — and ease staffing shortages, Clancy argues. With less space to put those convicted of crimes, judges might issue shorter sentences, he said.
“Every time I’ve spoken with a criminal judge, I’ve asked if they are aware of the number of beds available when they sentence someone. They always are,” Clancy said. “And I ask if that knowledge impacts their sentencing decisions. It always does.”
But for now, corrections employees are supervising a rising number of prisoners. The state’s total prison population is up about 7% since the compensation boost took effect. Wisconsin now houses more than 23,400 prisoners in facilities built for about 17,700, with the state budget estimating that number to rise over the next two years.
The Department of Corrections did not respond to multiple requests for comment on staffing trends.
‘How much of your soul can you afford to lose?’
Multiple corrections officers called rising vacancies predictable as new officers, attracted by competitive starting wages, discovered the demands of the work.
“It doesn’t surprise me one bit,” said a former officer who recently left a job in Waupun. He requested anonymity to avoid jeopardizing future employment in law enforcement. “They put a Band-Aid on the problem. They lured people in, thinking they were going to make more money. But the reality is the job hasn’t changed.”
Even before the raises, it was not uncommon for officers to make upwards of $100,000 as they banked overtime pay while being forced to cover for open shifts. That pay came at a steep cost to work-life balance, said Rich Asleson, a correctional officer between 1997 and 2022, most at the former Supermax facility in Boscobel.
“It’s not a matter of needing more money. It’s a matter of how much of your soul can you afford to lose?” Asleson said.
Additionally, officers say they feel added risks — whether reprimands, lawsuits or even criminal charges — as news media increasingly scrutinize their actions. Multiple deaths of Waupun prisoners, for instance, resulted in rare criminal charges against the warden and eight other staff members. Officers say they get little support, with a larger focus on penalties and firings than reforming conditions.
More predictable hours, improved training practices and restored union protections would make the work more attractive, officers said.
“It’s one thing to do a job where you’re getting paid and you’re miserable,” the former Waupun officer said. “But can you imagine doing a job and feeling like you’re not even backed up by Madison? There’s people that are getting into trouble because the powers that be are scared, too. (Leaders) think if they’re ever called to the carpet, they can point to all the people they terminated.”
The officer said veterans, fearing reprisals, are increasingly choosing posts that separate themselves from prisoners and riskier work. They are less willing to train incoming officers due to turnover — seeing that time as wasted if new officers won’t stay long, he added.
The Department of Corrections should improve training and retention by pairing veteran officers with rookies on shifts to show them the ropes — designating training specialists, he said.
Waupun mayor: Prison guards go unappreciated
Waupun Mayor Rohn Bishop blames news media for recruiting and retention challenges, saying coverage disproportionately scrutinizes officers without recognizing their difficult jobs.
Rohn Bishop, the mayor of Waupun, blames news media for recruiting and retention challenges in Wisconsin prisons, saying coverage does not recognize the difficulties of guards’ jobs. He is seen outside his home in Waupun, Wis., on Nov. 28, 2020. (Lauren Justice for Wisconsin Watch)
“I’m the mayor of a town with three prisons within its city limits. Any time an inmate dies all the TV trucks show up and reporters put microphones in my face,” Bishop said. “But when an officer gets killed or hurt for just doing their job, almost no media pay attention. And I think there’s a burnout because of that.”
Compared to other front-line workers, correctional officers often go unseen and unthanked, Bishop said.
“You see firefighters. You see nurses. You see cops. You see these other front-line workers. You don’t see correctional officers because they walk on the other side of the wall. And I just think we don’t appreciate them,” Bishop said.
Improving conditions for prisoners would simultaneously benefit correctional officers by boosting morale across prisons. That includes expanding the Earned Release Program, which offers pathways for early release to eligible prisoners with substance abuse issues who complete treatment and training — with the potential to ease overcrowding. Evers’ initial budget proposal included provisions that would have expanded eligibility for the Earned Release Program. The final budget included about $2 million to support programs to reduce recidivism and ease reentry.
“There needs to be a reimagining of what corrections are,” said the former Waupun officer. “It would make it easier for the inmates and the officers.”
Asleson agreed. “You can’t keep people locked away forever,” he said. “I think it’s about hope on both sides of the fence. If nobody has hope, it shows.”
If you live in northeast Wisconsin, I want to hear about your experience forging your path to meaningful, family-sustaining work.
But first, let me introduce myself. I’m Miranda Dunlap, and I’m Wisconsin Watch’s new reporter covering pathways to success in the region. That means I’ll write stories about how local people prepare themselves for their dream jobs and what roadblocks stand in the way.
I’m a native Michigander, and I previously spent two years reporting on community colleges and K-12 education for Houston Landing in Texas. I’ve spent countless hours learning about the experiences of people pursuing affordable education and training to change the trajectory of their life. That was after community college opened doors in my own career. Completing a year’s worth of credits at my local institution helped me afford enrolling at a university and shaved thousands of dollars off my total student debt.
I’m Wisconsin Watch’s second pathways to success reporter but the first journalist hired specifically to serve northeast Wisconsin. My colleague Natalie Yahr covers pathways from a statewide perspective, and I’m focused on reporting for Brown, Calumet, Door, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Marinette, Oconto, Outagamie, Shawano and Winnebago counties. Based in Green Bay, I hope people will see me as more than a trusted source of information, but also their neighbor — someone who will ensure Wisconsin Watch’s work reflects the perspectives of local residents.
My goal is to produce journalism that confronts your challenges, highlights resources and opportunities for economic mobility and answers your burning questions.
You can expect my stories to explore barriers that prevent them from finding sustainable employment, and I’ll examine whether leaders and higher education institutions are investing in solutions and tools to overcome these obstacles. I’ll do it all with an eye toward the unique identities of northeast Wisconsin communities.
As I dig into this beat, I’m particularly interested in hearing from people with nontraditional routes to the workforce — or those who face added barriers to success. That might include incarcerated or formerly incarcerated people, those from low-income families, folks living in rural, under-resourced communities or workers returning to education to switch careers.
I hope you’ll point me in the right direction by answering some of my questions.
What do you think I need to know about northeast Wisconsin to understand the challenges that people and communities here face when it comes to economic stability and mobility?
What are your career dreams — to fulfill your own professional goals and support your family? What, if anything, is standing in the way?
Have you attended a community or technical college in the region, such as Northeast Wisconsin Technical College or Fox Valley Technical College? If so, what was your experience?
Are you a local employer struggling to find skilled workers to fill your jobs? What would help?
Do you know of an organization or institution successfully guiding people toward the skills and information they need to succeed?
Your insights and experiences will shape my reporting. You can share them with me by filling out this form.
Wisconsin lawmakers and Gov. Tony Evers approved a $111 billion state budget early Thursday morning that will increase spending on child care and the Universities of Wisconsin system, while cutting taxes by $1.5 billion.
The budget was the first since Democrats gained 14 seats in both chambers of the Legislature under new legislative maps and reflected a stronger bipartisan compromise than in previous cycles.
Senate Republicans, with only one vote to spare, needed Senate Democrats at the negotiating table to pass the budget after multiple Republican senators indicated their disapproval with the budget. Four Republican state senators voted against the budget, and five Democratic state senators voted for it.
The budget was approved in both chambers on Wednesday evening and signed by Evers after 1 a.m. because lawmakers wanted to finish the state budget before President Donald Trump’s big federal bill passed. The federal bill capped Medicaid reimbursement for state taxes on hospitals at 6% and would have frozen tax rates on states like Wisconsin, which previously was at 1.8%. The move helped Wisconsin secure $1.5 billion in additional federal funds.
Evers called 2025 the “year of the kid,” prioritizing more funding for child care, K-12 education — particularly special education reimbursement — and higher education. While those areas received significant funding increases, and Republicans got their desired tax cut, postpartum Medicaid extension, renewal of the popular Knowles-Nelson public land acquisition fund and several other items, many with bipartisan support, were missing from this budget.
Postpartum Medicaid eligibility not extended to a year
Notably missing from the budget is extending postpartum Medicaid coverage to 12 months — an item that every single senator on the budget committee voted for when it was last brought before the Senate.
“The governor called this budget the ‘year of the kid,’ and the year of the kid really needs to include mothers and parents and their mental health because the first indicator of a child’s well-being is their parents’ mental health, their mother’s mental health,” said Casey White, marketing and communications manager for Moms Mental Health Initiative.
Evers asked for the state to allocate over $24 million to extend postpartum Medicaid eligibility to 12 months. Advocacy groups and women’s health experts say the most risky time for a mother’s health is six to nine months postpartum, but eligible new mothers currently only receive about two months of coverage.
Wisconsin is one of only two states that do not extend eligibility for 12 months, despite the severe maternal morbidity rates rising in the state and increases in perinatal depression diagnoses.
Extending postpartum Medicaid has received bipartisan support in both the Senate and Assembly. In April, the Senate passed a stand-alone bill that would extend postpartum Medicaid coverage. But the bill has stalled in the Assembly.
Former Rep. Donna Rozar, R-Marshfield, told Wisconsin Watch in January she authored the bill because she wanted to support new mothers. Even with bipartisan support in his chamber, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, refused to schedule it for a hearing last session.
This time around, Joint Finance Committee Republicans did not remove Evers’ proposal to extend postpartum Medicaid eligibility from budget consideration, meaning the committee could have introduced and passed a motion including the provision.
But as the committee wrapped its work last Tuesday, the extension was missing. Now, the stand-alone legislation awaits an unlikely hearing in the Assembly.
Child care provisions enough?
Late in the budget process it became clear that one of Evers’ highest priorities was funding a child care program supported by expiring federal pandemic relief dollars. The budget includes more than $361 million to fund direct payments to providers, increase child care subsidies for low-income families and fund an early school readiness program.
While the bipartisan willingness to address the ongoing issue of child care access in the state is a significant step, Ruth Schmidt, executive director of the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association, explained the $110 million in direct payments to providers is far from enough to stabilize the field.
Another critical part of the budget was the early school readiness program. Schmidt said allocating general purpose revenue to this program demonstrates lawmakers trust in the provider community to supply a school readiness curriculum to families around the state.
The third major piece of funding approved this budget cycle is raising the Wisconsin Shares child care program to the 75th percentile of market rates, allowing low-income families to access affordable, quality care.
“I always will argue that we can do more, and we can and other states do more, but for us to be at a place where we are restoring payments to 75% of the market is hugely important,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt noted that not all of the provisions are what is recommended by child care advocates, particularly the ratios of children to caretakers.
The budget would increase the class size for 18- to 30-month-olds by instituting a ratio of one caregiver to seven children rather than the recommended one-to-four. Schmidt said that is not something WECA would stand behind as best practice in the state and is not necessarily the right move for long-term investment into child care.
WECA is preparing to provide additional training to the facilities that take on this pilot program over the biennium.
Environmental advocates look to fall session for stewardship, PFAS fund
Two major environmental initiatives — reauthorization of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund and increased funding for the PFAS trust fund created in the last budget cycle — failed to make it into the final budget.
But Republican lawmakers have shown a willingness to reauthorize the stewardship fund, with a separate bill by Rep. Tony Kurtz, R-Wonewoc, and Sen. Patrick Testin, R-Stevens Point, aiming to fund the stewardship program through 2030. The fund supports land conservation and outdoor recreation through grants to local governments and nonprofits and also allows the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to purchase and maintain state land.
Sen. Jodi Habush Sinykin, D-Whitefish Bay, shared her disappointment that the budget deal did not reauthorize the stewardship fund and pointed to it as one of the reasons she voted against the budget.
“Beyond the long-time importance of this program to me personally, Knowles-Nelson funding has stood out as the single-most popular issue I have heard from my constituents during my first six months in office – from voters across the political spectrum,” Habush Sinykin said.
The state Supreme Court recently limited the power of the state budget committee to block conservation projects. Although funds for the program are currently set to expire on June 30, 2026, most funds are already awarded, and a lapse in funds could impact planning for land trusts and local governments hoping to access the funds, according to the program.
Paul Heinen, policy director at environmental policy organization Wisconsin Green Fire, and a lobbyist for the first stewardship fund in 1989, said the battle over reauthorization mirrors past debates over the fund.
“The stewardship fund is, could very well be, the single most loved state program,” Heinen said. “But oftentimes it’s leadership who says, no, we’re spending too much money. We’re not going to spend money on this, and then invariably, the other 120 legislators overrule them at some point, and the stewardship fund is reauthorized. That’s where we’re at right now.”
Heinen said he was “99% sure” the fund would be reauthorized in future legislative sessions but was uncertain at what level the fund would be restored. Evers’ budget proposed reauthorizing the fund with $100 million of bonding authority per year through 2036. The Republican bill proposes $28 million per year for the next four years.
UW system funding rebounds with some strings attached
Just two weeks ago, Republican lawmakers floated an $87 million cut to the Universities of Wisconsin budget, yet in the final deal between lawmakers and Evers, the system will see a $256 million increase, the largest increase in over two decades.
Republican lawmakers conditioned their support for additional funding on several things, including a required transfer credit policy between system schools, the continuation of a cap on state-funded positions and workload requirements for faculty.
UW-Madison faculty advocacy group PROFs celebrated the increased funding for the system, but called the updated workload requirements an overreach “that would intrude on the responsibilities of both institutions and their faculty members.”
The budget also specifies certain funding to be directed toward lower-enrollment universities. The funding formula the UW system uses to distribute state aid among schools has been a source of controversy among Republican lawmakers who have argued for more transparency.
Jon Shelton, president of AFT-Wisconsin and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, said he was frustrated faculty and staff were not part of negotiations over work requirements.
“It takes something that otherwise could have been, I think, relatively positive for the UW system and created a poison pill that was unnecessary,” Shelton said.
Although the $256 million increase is a significant boost to the system, the funding is only a fraction of the $856 million that Evers and UW requested.
UW system President Jay Rothman had indicated that if the $856 million request was fulfilled, the remaining two-year branch campuses, several of which have closed in recent years, battling funding shortfalls and enrollment decreases, would stay open, and tuition would not increase. System spokesperson Mark Pitsch did not respond to a request for comment on the potential impacts on branch campuses or tuition.
DAs but no public defenders
Republicans voted to increase assistant district attorneys in Wisconsin counties, notably adding seven ADAs in Brown County, but they didn’t add any public defender positions. Without filling these positions, the American Civil Liberties Union reports current public defenders are overburdened and cannot conduct thorough investigations into a case.
Brown County already faces a backlog of cases, with reports saying there has been an increase of over 2,000 open criminal cases in the past decade. While adding ADAs may allow the prosecutors to bring more cases to the courts, failing to add public defenders will not address the backlog of criminal cases.
That means as more cases are presented by ADAs, there might not be enough public defenders to actually represent the individuals, so those accused of a crime may spend more time in jails as they await an attorney.
Republicans also added 12.5 ADA positions in Milwaukee County.
Milwaukee has been addressing backlogs but still faces challenges. By adding more ADAs to bring cases forth, while ignoring a shortage of public defenders, backlog challenges could be exacerbated.
A Wisconsin Watch reader asks: The state expungement statute seems very strict. Does anyone actually get their record expunged?Is it easier to get a pardon or commutation from the governor? Why is it so difficult?
While it is certainly possible for people to get their records expunged, the laws and conditions surrounding expungement remain nuanced.
Expungement seals a person’s criminal records, meaning the public can no longer access them through court databases, such as Consolidated Court Automation Programs, or CCAP.
Oftentimes, employers and landlords use court databases, such as CCAP, to review someone’s criminal records. State law prohibits discrimination unless the crime is materially related, like someone convicted of bank fraud applying to work at a bank. By removing a public criminal record, it removes the stigma that could lead to discrimination in housing and job opportunities. Employers are not allowed to use an expunged record against an applicant, even if the crime is materially related.
But obtaining expungement in Wisconsin is much more difficult than it appears. First, anyone requesting expungement must have been under 25 years old at the time of sentencing and not convicted of a violent felony. Only misdemeanors and Class H and I felonies qualify. The attorney must also request expungement at the time of sentencing; it cannot be requested after the fact.
“I’ve seen judges just disagree with expungement as a concept and never order it,” said Natalie Lewandowski, senior clinic supervisor at the Milwaukee Justice Center. “I think some judges don’t believe that people can be rehabilitated enough to deserve to be back in society and have that not be counted against them.”
Even district attorneys can take expungement off the table. In some cases, defense attorneys may not even know expungement exists and therefore won’t know to bring it up during a person’s trial.
As a new attorney, Lewandowski wasn’t aware of expungement until she was told minutes before the trial. It is not something that is often taught, and there is no handbook, she said.
If the judge recommends expungement, a person must then meet all conditions of probation, including paying all financial obligations and supervision fees in full. The person cannot be convicted of a subsequent offense or violate any Department of Corrections rules.
But even with the expungement conditions laid out, the process is nuanced, and the success rate is low.
For those who were found eligible for expungement at the time of sentencing, Lewandowski said a shocking number of them fail to get their case successfully expunged.
In general, people believe that if they complete probation, they will have their case expunged. But they also must meet all the requirements of probation before they are discharged.
“I’ve had to tell too many people that they can never get their case expunged because at the time of their discharge, they still owed $10 in supervision fees,” Lewandowski said.
A probation office has to submit a form either notifying that the person completed conditions for expungement or failed to meet the conditions, with each condition laid out directly on the form.
It’s unclear how many people have their record expunged each year. The DOC does not keep data on how many cases meet the requirements for expungement, and court data is unreliable and not readily aggregated. Wisconsin Policy Forum estimates that around 2,000 people have their record expunged each year.
Pardons, on the other hand, have a more clearly defined process.
Requirements for a pardon include an old felony conviction and at least five years since the individual completed a sentence. To be granted a pardon, a person either applies to the Pardon Advisory Board, where a hearing is held on the pardon application, or the person can qualify for the expedited process in which the application is forwarded directly to the governor without a hearing.
The applicants have to include certified court documents. The cost of copies of court documents is $1.25 per page and an additional $5 to get the document certified.
“The kicker is the application processing times, the time it takes from when you submit your application to get a hearing in front of the pardon board, where they’ll decide, is like two years right now,” Lewandowski said. “If you’re eligible for a pardon, it’s still something that you have to prove to the pardon board that you’re deserving of, so a lot of people don’t get pardoned.”
Most of the pardoned cases are low-level, non-violent offenses. Pardoning does not expunge the record or indicate innocence, but instead symbolizes forgiveness from the governor and restores certain rights — such as the right to serve on a jury, possess a firearm or hold a state or local office.
Unlike expungement, pardons also depend on who is governor at the time of the request.
For example, Gov. Tony Evers has granted over 1,436 pardons as of April 2025 — the most ever — while former Gov. Scott Walker was adamantly against pardons during his time in office.
For individuals seeking expungement or pardons, there are resources available.
There have been attempts by lawmakers to decrease the barriers to expungement, such as eliminating the age requirement and allowing a person to petition the court for expungement after sentencing.
Evers most recently requested these changes in the 2025-27 budget, but it was removed from discussion by Republicans in early May.
We’ve learned a bit about American society amid the rhetoric over President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill.” For example, unauthorized immigrants don’t get Medicaid, but millions of working-age adults have gone on it. We’ve also knocked down some false claims about the bill along the way.
As of July 3, the nearly 900-page measure, filled with tax breaks and spending cuts, had moved toward passage but was still being debated in Congress.
Wisconsin Watch fact briefs have cleared up misstatements about the bill itself and about programs it would cut, such as Medicaid and food stamps.
Note: Our fact briefs answer a factual question yes or no based on the facts available when the brief is published.
Here’s a look.
Would the ‘big beautiful bill’ provide the largest federal spending cut in US history?
The largest-cut claim was made by Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, who represents part of southeastern Wisconsin. His office cited a $1.7 trillion claim made by the Trump administration.
Even if the net cut were $1.7 trillion, it would be second to a 2011 law that decreased spending by $2 trillion and would be the third-largest cut as a percentage of gross domestic product, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
But when Fitzgerald made his statement, the bill’s net decreases were $1.2 trillion, after taking its spending increases into account, and $680 billion after additional interest payments on the debt.
Have millions of nondisabled, working-age adults been added to Medicaid?
Millions of nondisabled working-age adults have enrolled in Medicaid since the Affordable Care Act expanded eligibility in 2014.
Medicaid is health insurance for low-income people.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that in 2024, average monthly Medicaid enrollment included 34 million nonelderly, nondisabled adults — 15 million made eligible by Obamacare.
Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who represents most of northern Wisconsin, complained about “able-bodied” adults being added, saying they are “draining” Medicaid.
The nonpartisan health policy organization KFF said 44% of the working-age adults on Medicaid, some of whom are temporarily disabled, worked full time and 20% part time, many for small companies, and aren’t eligible for health insurance.
Are unauthorized immigrants eligible for federal Medicaid coverage?
Trump’s bill proposedreducing federal Medicaid funds to those states.
Opponents of the bill, including Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, who represents the Madison area, said Trump administration officials claimed that unauthorized immigrants receive traditional Medicaid.
Do half the residents in one rural Wisconsin county receive food stamps?
In April, 2,004 residents of Menominee County in northeast Wisconsin received benefits from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
SNAP, formerly known as food stamps and called FoodShare in Wisconsin, provides food assistance for low-income people.
Menominee County’s rate was cited by U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., at the Wisconsin Democratic Party convention. He commented on the bill’s provision to remove an estimated 3.2 million people from SNAP, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Is Donald Trump’s megabill projected to add more than $2 trillion to the national debt?
Nonpartisan analysts estimate that the “big beautiful bill” would add at least $2 trillion to the national debt over 10 years.
The debt, which is the accumulation of annual spending that exceeds revenues, is $36 trillion.
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., claimed the bill would add trillions.
Among other things, the bill would make 2017 individual income tax cuts permanent, add work requirements for Medicaid and food assistance, and add funding for defense and more deportations.
After we published this brief, the Senate passed a version of the bill that would increase the debt by $3.3 trillion.
Would ‘the vast majority’ of Americans get a 65% tax increase if the GOP megabill doesn’t become law?
The Tax Foundation estimates that if the cuts expire, 62% of taxpayers would see a tax increase in 2026. The average taxpayer’s increase would be 19.4% ($2,955).
GOP U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, who represents western Wisconsin, made the 65% claim.
Do you have questions about this bill and how it affects Wisconsin? Submit them here, through our Ask Wisconsin Watch project.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
This story was produced in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Investigative Journalism class taught in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Editor’s note: A UW-Madison police officer is under investigation after a student journalist presented allegations the officer engaged in unsolicited text communications with students and offered to help students avoid underage drinking tickets.
Wisconsin Watch is not naming the officer because he hasn’t been formally disciplined or accused of a crime. The allegations in the following story are based on interviews with 11 students who all spoke on the condition of anonymity, partly for fear of retaliation, but also in order to discuss activities, such as underage drinking and possessing fake IDs, that could result in legal or disciplinary consequences.
***
At last October’s bustling homecoming football game at Camp Randall, a University of Wisconsin-Madison police officer approached a sophomore who recognized him from a recent safety presentation he had given at her sorority.
The officer struck up a conversation with the sophomore and her friends, eventually asking Kate — whose name is a pseudonym — for her phone number.
“I don’t know why he needed my number in the first place,” Kate said. “Every time he would walk by us, he’d stop and talk to us — you know how they patrol the bleachers? — he was just always hanging out around us there.”
Minutes later the officer began texting Kate to ask if she and her friends wanted food from the concession stands. The group agreed.
“Free food!” Kate recalled thinking.
He texted again: “Hot chocolate next game (eyes emoji). If you’re nice,” according to text messages Kate shared from the officer.
A UW-Madison police officer sent this text message to a student while on duty at a Badgers football game. The student interpreted it as flirtatious and inappropriate for someone in a position of power.
After supplying the stadium snacks, the officer asked Kate to get coffee with him later that week.
Kate dodged the question, hoping to laugh it off and watch the game. But after the game ended, another text popped up at 11:47 p.m. that night asking if she had chosen her coffee spot yet.
Kate texted her sorority chapter president and asked, “What should I do if (the officer) asked me to get coffee?”
The sorority president texted back, “Just don’t respond.”
“I literally just never responded to that,” Kate said. “It got to the point where he was trying to go on dates … because I was nice to him, he took it too far and wanted to make it more.”
Camp Randall Stadium on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus is shown on June 4, 2025, in this photo illustration. One student said a campus police officer sought her phone number at a football game and eventually asked her on a coffee date. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch) Credit: Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch
Kate was not the only student to experience unprofessional interactions with the same officer.
Accounts from 11 students, all of whom are affiliated with UW-Madison Greek organizations, describe how the same officer instigated texting relationships, asked female sources on coffee dates, relayed confidential police information to assist students in underage drinking and took students for rides in his squad car without first having them sign a liability waiver. Two male students interviewed for this story described their interactions with the officer positively, but female students viewed the contacts as inappropriate.
The officer’s behavior has persisted for at least four years, but was never the subject of a formal complaint, according to the UW-Madison Police Department. None of the students alleged the officer made any physical advances, and none agreed to go on a date with him.
“The UW-Madison Police Department became aware of the officer misconduct allegations when asked by the author for a comment for this article,” Assistant Chief Kari Sasso said in a statement. “We will review and investigate these claims as appropriate. There have been no formal complaints from community members, students or others regarding this officer. We hold our officers to the highest standards and take all allegations of officer misconduct seriously. We are committed to transparency and accountability within legal and policy boundaries.”
A spokesperson for UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin confirmed that an internal investigation is underway at UWPD.
The officer didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Gaining trust at safety presentations
The UW-Madison police officer serves as a downtown liaison community officer for an area that includes Langdon Street, where many of the university’s sorority and fraternity houses are located.
Preliminary communication between the officer and students often began within the bounds of his job description. Student leaders reached out to set up semiannual safety presentations at their organizations, largely for students under the legal drinking age.
The presentations cover campus safety, medical amnesty and behavior-based policing and are discussions intended to help students feel informed and educated from a reputable police source.
While intended to detail the potential consequences of underage alcohol consumption — not encourage it — the officer’s presentations were peppered with advice for students on how to continue illegally drinking without getting caught, according to an audio recording of one presentation.
University of Wisconsin-Madison sorority houses along Langdon Street are shown on June 4, 2025, in this photo illustration. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
In one presentation the officer told students he would alert underage students ahead of time regarding pre-planned bar checks to help them avoid potential citations — a breach of confidential police information.
Bar checks, often called “raids” by students, serve to ensure bars aren’t serving students under the legal drinking age of 21. Police officers enter the premises while others block exits, requesting IDs from all patrons. Underage patrons in the bar face a fine of up to $1,250 for using a fake ID.
The student sources said over the last four years the officer shared confidential police information regarding bar checks with them over the phone, warning them in advance of the bars Madison police would be checking and the general timeline of the check.
One student in a leadership position also said he encouraged them to share the information with their personal contacts.
“It’s helpful to us, obviously — also kind of crazy that he goes behind the police station’s back,” Kate said.
The UW-Madison student who provided this text said she received it from a UW-Madison police officer at 11:47 p.m. the night of the football game where he was on duty.
In audio recorded as part of this investigation during one of the officer’s standard safety presentations this past school year, he told freshmen and sophomores, “I promise you I will always help you. If I’m ever involved in a bar check, it’s because I want to make sure that the city cops are actually treating you all with respect.”
“And every now and then I might hold whatever door I’m manning open for the three or four of you to leave without any real consequences — but don’t tell my boss that. I say that because I’ve actually done it,” he continued. “I don’t like bar checks. I hate the fact that you all are in the safest place to be consuming alcohol, rather than a basement or a house party or an apartment, and we’re jamming you all up by giving you tickets.”
The officer also examined the students’ fake IDs, checking if they are realistic enough to allow access at local bars. Kate was one of the students who offered her ID for inspection.
“That’s how it started,” Kate said. “He was basically like, ‘I owe you a coffee for volunteering.’”
Seth Stoughton, a University of South Carolina law professor and a nationally recognized policing expert, reviewed portions of the audio and said the UW-Madison officer’s presentation is not a standard police presentation on underage drinking.
“What those talks usually look like are how students can avoid breaking the law, how students can avoid trouble — not how students can break the law and not get in trouble for it,” Stoughton said.
Texting relationships with students
The officer only contacted students about bar check alerts over a phone call, multiple sources said.
“This would be the type of evidence that we use to establish knowledge of guilt; when he’s telling folks, ‘Oh no, I don’t want to put any of that in writing, I don’t want there to be a record of it,’” Stoughton said. “Well, that’s because you are aware that the record could be used against you in some way. So that seems problematic.”
A UW-Madison police officer offered to buy drinks for a group of students, including some he had met during a presentation at their sorority on campus safety.
After obtaining students’ cellphone numbers, the officer began reaching out to them outside of professional protocols: regularly checking in, calling and asking them to meet up.
For the nine female students interviewed for this story, his frequent check-ins quickly caused discomfort.
“When you’re in it, you think all these things are to help you, and then the further down in the year it got, when I was working with him specifically, I felt like I was putting myself in danger more than being protected,” said a former sorority executive member. “I didn’t want to work with him ever, and I also warned other people, like do not involve yourself. He’s not doing anything for us.”
Caroline, a pseudonym for a recently graduated senior at UW-Madison, felt similarly.
“I remember us being like, ‘Oh my god, he’s texting you now?’ He went through people, he was always texting different people,” Caroline said.
While females in leadership positions said he straddled the line between a professional and personal relationship, others who didn’t serve on executive boards or in organizational leadership, including Kate, are less certain about why he was texting them in the first place — saying there was no professional justification for his outreach.
“All of our texts are very playful and joke-y in what he was saying — it wasn’t like he was professional,” Kate said.
Offering rides without waivers
Some students and former students claimed that the officer offered them rides in his squad car.
One source took him up on that offer.
Allen, a recently graduated UW-Madison student also identified with a pseudonym, claimed he went for a drive with the officer in January 2023 when he was a sophomore.
“He picked me up in his car and we drove around for like 20 minutes. He asked me about myself. He really made an effort to establish a friendship and a relationship with me, which I really appreciated,” Allen said. “He was just a real beacon of guidance.”
Camp Randall Stadium is shown on June 4, 2025, in this photo illustration. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Records of ride-along waivers signed between Jan. 1, 2022, and Jan. 1, 2025, show only two people signed liability waivers for UW-Madison police ride-alongs over the past three years.
Allen’s name did not appear in any of the signed waivers. He also doesn’t recall signing a waiver.
“I feel like I would remember if I had to sign something,” he said.
Stoughton said it’s a liability issue, should a police officer choose to disregard mandatory waivers. Typically officers will alert dispatchers of a pickup and drop-off to ensure nothing inappropriate happens.
“There are procedures that are in place to help protect everyone’s interest: the police agencies, the individual officers and the community members,” Stoughton continued. “(It) sounds like he is just completely ignoring those standard protocols.”
Male students appreciative, female students uncomfortable
Three UW students, two males and one female, expressed gratitude for the officer’s help in keeping them out of police trouble, especially those who are under 21.
“I do think there is a very deep appreciation for him making himself as available as possible to everyone, in a plethora of different events and situations,” one fraternity leader said.
The UW-Madison student interpreted additional texts from the UW-Madison police officer as overly friendly and unprofessional.
Allen felt similarly. “I was very blown away by his willingness to not just be an administrator, but to be a friend. Not a parental figure — an adviser, but more than that, much more friendly than that,” he said. “We developed a personal friendship.”
But the female students mostly interpreted the officer’s behavior differently.
“His actions blurred the line between authority and familiarity, leaving students unsure of his true intentions,” the sorority leader said. “What I would’ve changed was his approach. Instead of trying to be our ‘friend’ and making us feel like we had an inside connection with campus law enforcement, he should have taken a more traditional and professional role.”
University policy W-5048 covers relationships between those in unequal levels of power, stating that a relationship between an employee and student is “not appropriate when they occur between an employee of the university and a student over whom the employee has or potentially will have supervisory, advisory, evaluative, or other authority or influence.”
Stoughton said there’s a line in policing, with making yourself available on one side, but affirmatively seeking out individuals in a nonorganizational capacity on the other.
“It doesn’t surprise me that the female students have a slightly different perspective than male students because male students may be — for several complicated reasons — just less cognizant of that power dynamic,” Stoughton said. “Female students may be much more aware of that power dynamic. It’s the officer’s job, though, to also be aware of it.”
If you have a complaint about the conduct of a UW-Madison Police Department officer, you can file a complaint online or call the department and speak with a supervisor, according to UW-Madison spokesperson John Lucas. The department typically requires a person’s name and doesn’t accept anonymous complaints.
This is an ongoing story. If you or someone you know has had similar encounters with a UWPD officer, please let us know at tips@wisconsinwatch.org.
Millions of nondisabled working-age adults have enrolled in Medicaid since the Affordable Care Act expanded eligibility in 2014.
Medicaid is health insurance for low-income people.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that in 2024, average monthly Medicaid enrollment included 34 million nonelderly, nondisabled adults – 15 million made eligible by Obamacare.
Two smaller estimates used U.S. Census survey data.
The White House Council of Economic Advisers said there were 27 million nondisabled working-age (age 19-64) Medicaid recipients in 2024.
That’s similar to the 26 million for 2023 estimated by the nonpartisan health policy organization KFF. That figure includes people who are disabled.
KFF said 44% worked full time and 20% part time, many for small companies, and aren’t eligible for health insurance.
Medicaid costs nearly $900 billion annually, two-thirds from the federal government, one-third from the states.
Forty states, excluding Wisconsin, adopted the Obamacare Medicaid expansion. Congress is considering President Donald Trump’s proposal adding work requirements for Medicaid.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Spending cuts proposed in President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” would not be the largest ever, according to nonpartisan analysts.
The largest-cut claim was made by Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, who represents part of southeastern Wisconsin, ahead of the House vote. His office cited a $1.7 trillion claim made by the Trump administration.
The House-passed version of the bill nominally would have cut $1.6 trillion in spending over 10 years.
But the bill’s net decreases were $1.2 trillion, after taking spending increases into account, and $680 billion after additional interest payments on the debt.
The heaviest spending reductions don’t begin until around 2031, increasing the chances that they could be changed by future legislation.
A $1.7 trillion net cut would be second to a 2011 law that decreased spending by $2 trillion and would be the third-largest cut as a percentage of gross domestic product, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
As we continue to report on Wisconsin’s readiness for potential measles outbreaks, we have spoken to several people who have shared their memories of having measles before a vaccines were widely available. We’d love to hear from more of you.
Before the 1960s, hundreds of thousands of Americans faced measles infections each year. The advent of vaccination eliminated the disease in the United States by 2000. But outbreaks have returned to some U.S. communities as trust in vaccines wanes in many communities.
We’re following whether measles will return to Wisconsin, which has some of the nation’s lowest vaccination rates for children.
If you have a story to share, whether it’s your own experience with measles or your observations of what it was like at the time, please take a moment to fill out this short form. Your submissions will shape the direction of our reporting and will not be shared publicly. But we may follow up with those who indicate they are comfortable with us doing so.
Thanks to those who have already shared their perspectives and questions.
Here are the stories your feedback has inspired so far:
Reading Time: 12minutesClick here to read highlights from the story
Jess D’Souza, a small-time pig farmer in Klevenville, is challenged to sustain her livelihood in the wake of a sudden federal funding cut.
After years of taking no salary, she had hoped 2025 would be the first year she turned a profit, aided by Wisconsin’s participation in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Local Food Purchase Assistance program, designed to support underserved farmers and bolster local food systems. But the Trump administration abruptly rescinded the program, upending Jess’ plans.
As she contends with the government’s broken promise and weighs whether to raise or sell her newest piglets, Jess seeks to build a more resilient food system independent from political whims.
Two piglets jostled in the barnyard as Jess D’Souza stepped outside. Neither youngster seemed to be winning their morning game of tug-of-war over an empty feed bag.
Jess approached the chicken coop. She swung open the weathered door. The flood of fowl scampered up a hill to a cluster of empty food bowls.
Groans resembling bassoons and didgeridoos leakedfrom the hog house as groggy pigs stirred. Jess often greets them in a singsong as she completes chores.
Hi Mama! Hi babies!
She asks if she can get them some hay. Or perhaps something to drink? The swine respond with raspy snorts and spine-rattling squeals.
Jess unfurled the hose from the water pump as pigs trudged outdoors into their muddy pen.
“Is everybody thirsty? Are you all thirsty? Is that what’s going on?”
That morning, Jess slipped a Wisconsin Farmers Union beanie over her dark brown hair and stepped into comfy gray Dovetail overalls — “Workwear for Women by Women.” The spring wind was still crisp. Bare tree branches swayed across the 80-acre farm.
She filled a plastic bucket, then heaved the water over a board fence into a trough.
Jess D’Souza, owner of Wonderfarm, pours water for pigs at Wonderfarm during her morning chores, April 8, 2025, in Klevenville, Wis. She knows she shouldn’t view her pigs like pets, but she coos at them when she works. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Growing up, the Chicago native never imagined a career rearing dozens of Gloucestershire Old Spots pigs in Klevenville, Wisconsin — an agricultural enclave surrounded by creeping neighborhoods of the state’s capital and surrounding communities.
She can watch the precociously curious creatures from her bedroom window much of the year. Their skin is pale, dotted with splotchy ink stains. Floppy ears shade their eyes from the sun like an old-time bank teller’s visor.
Jess spends her days tending to the swine, hoisting 40-pound organic feed bags across her shoulder and under an arm. Some pigs lumber after her, seeking scratches, belly rubs and lunch. Juveniles dart through gaps in the electric netting she uses to cordon off the barnyard, woods and pastures up a nearby hill.
She knows she shouldn’t view her pigs like pet dogs, but she coos at them when she works. Right until the last minute.
Jess D’Souza, owner of Wonderfarm, installs new electric fencing as she prepares to move her pigs, April 8, 2025, in Klevenville, Wis. (Photos by Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Jess hadn’t anticipated politics would so dramatically affect her farm.
Last year, Jess doubled the size of her pig herd, believing the government’s agriculture department, the USDA, would honor a $5.5 million grant it awarded to Wisconsin.
Under the Biden administration, the agency gave states money for two years to run the Local Food Purchase Assistance program, or LFPA, which helped underserved farmers invest in local food systems and grow their businesses.
In Wisconsin, the state, Indigenous tribes and several farming groups developed a host of projects that enabled producers to deliver goods like plump tomatoes and crisp emerald spinach to food pantries, schools and community organizations across all 72 counties.
The Trump administration gutted the program in March, just as farmers started placing seed orders. For her part, Jess must anticipate the size of her pork harvests 18 months in advance. She banked on program funding as guaranteed income.
This was supposed to be the year Jess, 40, broke a profit after a decade of toiling. She has never paid herself.
Jess chuckles as she admits she worries too much. She’s an optimist at heart but mulls over questions that lack ready-made answers: How will she support herself following her recent divorce? How are her son and daughter faring during their tumultuous teens? How will she keep the piglets from being squished by the adults?
Now, if she can’t find buyers for the four tons of pork she expects to produce, will she even be able to keep farming?
The world, she thinks, feels like it’s on fire.
A piglet nurses at Wonderfarm in Klevenville, Wis., April 8, 2025. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
***
In childhood, Jess, the elder sibling, strove to meet her parents’ expectations. School was her top priority. Academic achievement would lead to a good job, material comfort and happiness. She realized only as an adult that her rejection of this progression reflected a difference in values, not a personal deficiency.
She almost taught high school mathematics after college, but didn’t like forcing lukewarm students to learn.
Jess D’Souza, who raises Gloucestershire Old Spots pigs at Wonderfarm in Klevenville, Wis., looks out the window of her home on April 8, 2025. She doubled the size of her pig herd last year, believing the federal government would honor a $5.5 million grant it awarded to Wisconsin. But it didn’t. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Jess moved in 2005 to Verona, Wisconsin, where she planted fruit trees and vegetable gardens in her suburban yards. But a yard can only produce so much. She wanted chickens and ducks and perennial produce.
Jess can’t pinpoint a precise moment when she decided to farm pigs.
She attended workshops where farmers raved about Gloucestershires. The mamas attentively care for their offspring. Jess wouldn’t have to fret that the docile creatures would eat her own kids. Pigs also are the source of her favorite meats, and the breed tastes delicious. Her housemate wanted to harvest one.
It took almost 3 ½ years to name the farm after Jess and her then-husband located and purchased the property in 2016.
She hiked it during a showing and discovered a creek and giant pile of sand in the woods that for her children could become the best sandbox ever.
What did the place encapsulate, she mused.
Jess D’Souza, owner of Wonderfarm in Klevenville, Wis., pets Candy, a female breeding pig, while installing new fencing as she prepares to move her pigs on April 8, 2025. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
She chronicled life on “Yet to be Named Community Farm” across social media: Photographs of piglets wrestling in straw piles next to lip-smacking pork entrees.
Also, lessons learned.
“I like to tell people I’m a recovering perfectionist, and farming is playing a large part in that recovery,” Jess posted to Facebook. She can’t develop the perfect plan in the face of unpredictability. Farmers must embrace risk. Maybe predators will infiltrate the hen house, the ends of a fence don’t quite align or a mama will crush her litter.
On the farm, life and death meet.
Some days, Jess can only keep the dust out of her eyes and her wounds bandaged.
Years later, the creatures living on the land still insist she take a moment to pause.
Jess once encountered a transparent monarch chrysalis. She inspected the incubating butterfly’s wings, noticing each tiny gold dot.
The farm instills a sense of wonderment.
When the idea for a name emerged, she knew.
Wonderfarm.
***
In March, a thunderstorm crashed overhead, and Jess couldn’t sleep. Clicking through her inbox at 5 a.m., she had more than five times her usual emails to sift through.
The daily stream of news from Washington grew unbearable. Murmurings that LFPA might be cancelled had been building.
President Donald Trump’s administration wasted no time throttling the civil service since he took office in January. Billionaire Elon Musk headed a newly created Department of Government Efficiency that scoured offices and grants purportedly seeking to unearth waste and fraud.
The executive branch froze payments, dissolved contracts and shuttered programs. Supporters cheered a Republican president who promised to finally drain the swamp. Detractors saw democracy and the rule of law cracking under hammer blows.
Wonderfarm’s silo stands above the farm on April 8, 2025, in Klevenville, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
But agriculture generally gleans support from both sides of the aisle, Jess thought. Although lawmakers disagree over who may claim to be a “real” farmer versus a mere hobbyist, surely the feds wouldn’t can the program.
Like the lightning overhead, the news shocked.
LFPA “no longer effectuates agency priorities,” government officials declared in terse letters sent to states and tribes.
Its termination left Jess and hundreds of producers and recipients in a lurch. The cut coincided with ballooning demand at food banks and pantries while congressional Republicans pushed legislation to shrink food assistance programs.
LFPA is a relic of a bygone era, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in May.
She smiled as she touted the administration’s achievements and defended agency reductions before congressional appropriations subcommittees.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., pressed the secretary, asking if the department will reinstate “critical” food assistance programs. One in five Wisconsin children and one in 10 adults — often elderly, disabled or employed but struggling — are unable to or uncertain how they will obtain enough nutritious food.
“Those were COVID-era programs,” Rollins said, shaking her head. “They were never meant to go forever and ever.”
But LFPA also strengthened local food infrastructure, which withered on the vine as a few giant companies — reaching from fields to grocery aisles — came to dominate America’s agricultural sector.
The pandemic illustrated what happens when the country’s food system grinds to a halt. Who knows when the next wave will strike?
***
Nearly 300 Wisconsin producers participated in LFPA over two years. A buyer told Jess their organization could purchase up to $12,000 of pork each month — almost as much as Jess previously earned in a year.
Wisconsin’s $8 million award was among the tiniest of drops in the USDA’s billion-dollar budget. The agency’s decision seemed illogically punitive.
Only a few months earlier, Biden’s agriculture department encouraged marginalized farmers and fishers to participate so underserved communities could obtain healthy and “culturally relevant” foods like okra, bok choy and Thai chilis.
Then the Trump administration cast diversity, equity and inclusion programs as “woke” poison.
Jess D’Souza, owner of Wonderfarm in Klevenville, Wis., looks through stored meat in her basement after finishing the morning chores on April 8, 2025. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Cutting LFPA also clashes with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again initiative and his calls to ban ultra-processed foods. Farmers and distributors wondered what goods pantries would use to stock shelves instead of fresh produce. Boxed macaroni?
The aftershocks of the canceled award spread through Wisconsin’s local food distribution networks. Trucks had been rented, staff hired and hub-and-spoke routes mapped in preparation for three more years of government-backed deliveries.
For a president who touts the art of the deal, pulling the plug on an investment that neared self-sufficiency is just bad business, said Tara Turner-Roberts, manager of the Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers accused the Trump administration of abandoning farmers, and Attorney General Josh Kaul recently joined 20 others suing to block grant rescissions.
Meanwhile, participants asked the agriculture department and Congress to reinstate the program. Should that fail, they implored Wisconsin legislators to fill the gap and continue to seek local solutions.
Jess is too.
***
Jess alternately texted on her cellphone and scanned a swarm of protesters who gathered across the Wisconsin State Capitol’s lawn.
She had agreed to speak before hundreds, potentially thousands, of people and was searching for an organizer.
Madison’s “Hands off!” rally reflected national unrest that ignited during the first 75 days of Trump’s term. In early April, a coalition of advocates and civil rights groups organized more than 1,300 events across every state.
Jess D’Souza, a farmer raising heritage pigs at Wonderfarm in Klevenville, Wis., delivers a speech on April 5, 2025, at the “Hands off!” protest in downtown Madison. She is one of nearly 300 Wisconsin growers who over two years participated in the Local Food Purchase Assistance program, which the Trump administration canceled. (Bennet Goldstein / Wisconsin Watch)
Jess pulled out a USDA-branded reusable sandwich bag, which she had loaded with boiled potatoes to snack on. She and her new girlfriend joined the masses and advanced down State Street to the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.
A hoarse woman wearing a T-shirt covered in peace patches and a tie-dye bandana directed the marchers. She led them in a menagerie of greatest protest hits during the 30-minute walk past shops, restaurants and mixed-use high-rises.
“Money for jobs and education, not for war and corporations!” her metallic voice crackled through a megaphone.
Trump’s administration had maligned so many communities, creating a coherent rallying cry seemed impossible. The chant leader hurriedly checked her cellphone for the next jingle in a dizzying display of outrage.
“The people, united, will never be defeated!”
“Say it loud! Say it clear! Immigrants are welcome here!”
Jess leaned into her girlfriend, linking arms as they walked.
They ran into a friend with violet hair. Jess grinned sheepishly, trying not to think about the speech.
“You’ll be fine,” her friend said.
The chant captain bellowed.
“Hands off everything!”
A black police cruiser flashed its emergency lights as the walk continued under overcast skies.
An hour later, Jess stood atop a cement terrace, awed by the sea of chatter, laughter and shouts that swamped the plaza.
A friend took her photo. Jess swayed to the chant of “Defund ICE!” A protester walked past, carrying a sign bearing the silhouette of Trump locking lips with Russian President Vladmir Putin.
Someone passed Jess a microphone. The crowd shouted to the heavens that “trans lives matter!”A cowbell clanged.
She grinned.
“I don’t want to slow us down,” Jess began.
She described her dilemma as the crowd listened politely. The government broke its commitments. She struggles to pay bills between unpredictable sales. Some farm chores require four working hands.
Jess only has two.
Jess D’Souza, owner of Wonderfarm, installs new fencing as she prepares to move her pigs, April 8, 2025, in Klevenville, Wis. This was supposed to be the year Jess broke a profit after a decade of toiling. But cuts to a federal program jeopardize those plans. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
“LFPA kind of gave me hope that I’d be able to keep doing the thing that I love,” she said.
Bystanders booed as she recounted the night of the fateful email. Jess chuckled and rocked on her foot, glad to see friends in the audience.
“The structures around us are crumbling,” she said, shrugging. “So let’s stop leaning on them. Let’s stop feeding them. Let’s grow a resilient community.”
The crowd whooped.
***
It’s hard for Jess to stomach meat on harvest days.
Naming an animal and later slaughtering it necessitates learning how to grieve. Jess had years to practice.
The meat processor’s truck rumbled up the farm driveway at 7 a.m. in late April.
Jess spent the previous week sorting her herd, selecting the six largest non-breeding swine. She ushered them to either side of a fence that bisected the barnyard.
It took roughly 30 minutes for the two butchers to transform a pig into pork on Jess’ farm. The transfiguration occurred somewhere between the barnyard, the metal cutting table and the cooler where the halved carcasses dangle from hooks inside the mobile slaughter unit.
Mitch Bryant of Natural Harvest butchering uses an electrical stunner on a pig on April 29, 2025 — harvest day at Jess D’Souza’s Wonderfarm in Klevenville, Wis. Electricity causes the animal to seize and pass out before butchers cut into it. (Patricio Crooker for Wisconsin Watch)
The butchers unpacked their gear in the gentle morning glow. Jess carried a plastic tray of eggs, squash shavings and mango peels to the pen.
The snack helps lure anxious pigs during the harvest. It’s also a final gift for the one they are about to give.
The butchers employed an electrical stunner that resembles a pair of barbecue tongs. A coiled cord connects the contraption to a battery that releases an electric current.
When pressed to a pig’s head, the animal seizes and passes out. The butchers cut its chest before it awakens.
An hour into the harvest, Jess guided more swine from a trailer, where a cluster slept the previous night, along with a seventh little pig that wasn’t headed to the block.
A male began to urinate atop a dead female — possibly mating behavior. Jess smacked his butt to shoo him away. She regretted it.
He bolted across the yard, grunting and sidestepping whenever Jess approached.
“Just leave him for the next round,” one of the butchers said.
Shaun Coffey of Natural Harvest butchering works at Jess D’Souza’s pig farm in the unincorporated community of Klevenville, Wis., on April 29, 2025. (Patricio Crooker for Wisconsin Watch)
Jess remembers her first on-farm slaughter years ago when a female spooked and tore through the woods. Jess kept her as a breeder.
The agitated male disappeared behind the red barn. He sniffed the air as he peeked around the corner.
The standoff lasted another hour. One of the butchers returned with a 20-gauge shotgun. He unslung it from his shoulder, then walked behind the building.
Jess turned away. She covered her ears. A rooster crowed.
The crack split the air.
The other worker hauled the pig across the barnyard, leaving a glossy wake in the dirt.
Jess crossed the pen, shoulders deflated, and stepped over the dividing fence to feed the others.
A 6-month-old trotted over to her. Jess squatted on her haunches and extended a gloved hand.
“Are you playing?” she asked. “Is that what is happening?”
Farmer Jess D’Souza greets a pig at Wonderfarm in the unincorporated community of Klevenville, Wis., on April 29, 2025 — a harvest day. (Patricio Crooker for Wisconsin Watch)
***
The May harvest never happened.
Nearly all the females were pregnant, even though they aren’t designated breeders. Jess will postpone the slaughter day for now.
She needs to decide whether to raise her spring piglets or sell them. It all depends on how quickly she can move product, but she’s leaning toward keeping them.
The pork from April’s butchering is on ice as she works her way down a list of potential buyers. She still serves people in need by selling a portion to a Madison nonprofit that distributes Farms to Families “resilience boxes.”
Jess marks the days she collects her meat from the processor. She defrosts, say, a pack of brats and heats them up for dinner.
She celebrates her pigs.
Jess and her farming peers are planning for a world with less federal assistance.
One idea: They would staff shifts at the still-under-construction Madison Public Market, where fresh food would remain on site 40 hours a week. No more schlepping meat from cold storage to a pop-up vendor stand.
She dreams of a wholesale market where buyers place large orders. One day maybe. No government whims or purse strings.
Like seeds that sprout after a prairie burn, some institutions will survive the flames, she thinks. Perhaps it doesn’t have to be the ones in Washington.
Those that remain will grow anew.
Jess D’Souza, owner of Wonderfarm in Klevenville, Wis., retrieves a bale of hay for one of her “mama pigs” during morning chores, April 8, 2025. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
This story is part of a partnership with the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an editorially independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri School of Journalism in partnership with Report for America and funded by the Walton Family Foundation.
Wisconsin Watch is a member of the Ag & Water Desk network. Sign up for our newsletters to get our news straight to your inbox.
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Sauk County’s public nursing home will remain county-owned — and open — after a resolution to begin closing the facility failed to advance during a chaotic Board of Supervisors meeting. It was a win for organizers who have relentlessly resisted efforts to privatize the facility.
Tensions have escalated since last year, when the board approved selling the nursing home to the for-profit Aria Healthcare. Opponents sued the county to halt the sale, and Aria backed out of the deal.
Some county board members say a sale is the best way to keep the facility open as costs increase. Opponents argue the board should prioritize investing in the home, rather than risking inferior privatized care.
Similar debates have unfolded in at least four other Wisconsin counties over the last two years.
Listen to Addie Costello’s story from WPR.
Sauk County’s public nursing home will remain county-owned — for now. That’s after a resolution to begin closing the facility failed to advance to the full county board during a meeting that ended in chaos last week.
It was the latest twist during a relentless campaign by local residents to keep county control of services that have existed locally in some form since the 1800s. Heading into a special meeting Thursday, proponents of keeping the Sauk County Health Care Center public feared defeat.
The Sauk County Board of Supervisors was expected to vote on a resolution to close the nursing home if it weren’t sold. The meeting drew more than 80 attendees to the county board room. Several held signs, declaring “SAVE OUR SAUK CO. HEALTH CARE,” and “WE LOVE OUR SAUK COUNTY NURSING HOME.”
Instead, no vote took place, and the board adjourned the meeting within two minutes without allowing public comment.
Organizers yelled “shame on you” as board members left the room.
Organizers shout “shame on you” after Sauk County Board Chair Tim McCumber said a special meeting would not include public comment. The county board took no vote on a resolution to close the county-owned nursing home if it weren’t sold. The meeting occurred in Baraboo, Wis., on June 26, 2025. (Addie Costello / WPR and Wisconsin Watch)
“You won,” County Board Chair Tim McCumber shouted at the chanting organizers. “The damn nursing home hasn’t been sold, and it hasn’t been closed.”
Tensions have escalated since last year, when the board approved selling the nursing home to the for-profit Aria Healthcare. Opponents sued the county to halt the sale. The litigation and broader opposition prompted Aria, which did not respond to a request for comment, to back out this month, according to Thursday night’s tabled resolution.
Board members supporting a sale call it the best way to keep the facility open as costs increased. Opponents argue the board should prioritize investing in the home, rather than risking inferior privatized care.
Wisconsin counties debate nursing home sales
Similar debates have unfolded in at least four other Wisconsin counties over the last two years. St. Croix found new revenue streams to keep its nursing home public, while Washington County sold its facility to a private nursing home chain. Lincoln County approved a sale this month, and Portage County continues seeking buyers.
Wisconsin still maintains more county-owned nursing homes than most states, but that number has shrunk in recent years, concerning nursing home residents and their loved ones.
County-owned nursing homes tend to be better staffed, have higher quality of care and draw fewer complaints than facilities owned by for-profits and nonprofits, a 2024 WPR/Wisconsin Watch analysis of U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data shows.
Sauk County’s nursing home has a history of high care ratings, but those have recently slipped. Federal inspections between October 2024 and April yielded three “immediate jeopardy” citations related to patient care. Those citations, the most severe type, dropped the facility’s overall rating to “much below average,” CMS data shows.
Meanwhile, the nursing home has struggled with staffing, losing 10 employees since May 23, including its director of nursing, Thursday’s resolution said. More expensive contractors, many from out of town, are filling in.
“We need to do everything to make sure that that facility is as successful as it used to be,” said Judy Brey, a leader of the citizen group suing the county.
Her group filled the board room Thursday night.
Judy Brey, of Sauk County, left, leads a meeting with fellow county-owned nursing home advocates to prepare for a meeting with state officials Jan. 9, 2025, at the Hilton Madison Monona Terrace in Madison, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
By tabling the resolution, the board preserved the status quo.
“It’ll be county-run until we have more patient care problems out there and the state intervenes, or we’re able to sell it,” said McCumber, who has had family stay at the facility.
While Thursday’s resolution had left room for Aria or another company to buy the home before finalizing its closure, some board members — even proponents of a sale — were not comfortable voting to potentially close it, said Supervisor Terry Spencer.
Spencer, who favors a sale, sits on the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, one of three committees that met before the full board meeting and took no vote on the resolution.
“If it’s going to fail on its own, we’ll just let it fail on its own, and then we’ll close it,” Spencer said. “But I’d rather see it try than just say we’re closing our doors.”
Resident: Nursing home is ‘one big family’
Sauk County has operated a care facility in some form since 1871 — using it to treat diseases ranging from smallpox in the early 1900s to Alzheimer’s in the 1990s, according to the county’s website. Around 50 people live in the facility today, including Robert Leopold, 84, who has been there about a year. He and two other nursing home residents came to the board meeting to speak out against a closure.
“We (nursing home residents) play cards, we have fun, and it’s one big family,” Leopold, a retired teacher and longtime 4-H volunteer locally, said with tears in his eyes.
“If we have to go someplace else, we’re all going to be a family gone,” he added. “I just hope the board realizes what a beautiful facility they’ve got and be proud of it and do something with it.”
From right, Sauk County Health Care Center residents Robert Leopold, Mary Camp and Alan Camp sit next to Jessie Wright, a nursing home employee, ahead of a Sauk County Board of Supervisors meeting in Baraboo, Wis., on June 26, 2025. The county board has long debated the future of the nursing home, but this was the first meeting that all three residents were able to attend. (Addie Costello / WPR and Wisconsin Watch)
The meeting’s rapid adjournment left no opportunity for Leopold — who was attending his first board meeting during the nursing home debate — or others to publicly voice their perspectives. Brey and others shouted demands that the board allow public comment, pointing out that nursing home residents had traveled 30 minutes to be there.
McCumber responded: “Shame on you for dragging people out of a nursing home.”
“(Nursing home residents) showed up and they wanted to speak, but nobody gave them the chance,” Brey replied. “That is despicable.”
Sale falls through
While energized by Thursday’s outcome, residents are bracing for a future attempt to sell or close the home.
But McCumber said the county’s best option, Aria, likely won’t buy the facility until what he calls a “frivolous” lawsuit is dropped or dismissed.
Aria received board approval to purchase the facility in September, but the county still needed state approval. The Department of Health Services previously blocked Aria from buying another nursing home, citing past citations that, the department said, “demonstrate a history of noncompliance,” according to the Cap Times.
Aria’s four Wisconsin nursing homes have federal ratings ranging from “much above average” to “much below average.”
The state ultimately approved the Sauk County purchase in May, but the lawsuit prompted Aria to instead seek a leasing agreement with the county.
While the county board approved that arrangement, the state health department required additional approval, according to the resolution. The original state-approved sale plan required Aria to take over the nursing home by July 1. Moving forward with a sale or lease after that deadline would require a new license application, which can take up to 60 days.
Jessie Wright, a certified nursing assistant at the Sauk County Health Care Center, holds a sign outside the Baraboo Public Library before walking into a special meeting of the Sauk County Board on June 26, 2025, in Baraboo, Wis. She’s worked at the nursing home for over a year and says its closure would be devastating. (Addie Costello / WPR and Wisconsin Watch)
Aria told county officials it no longer wished to continue due to misrepresentations of the company online and “unwarranted attacks” that could interfere with business operations and patient care, according to the resolution.
Asked about the potential for a future Aria purchase of the nursing home, resident Mary Camp responded: “You don’t want to know.”
The 79-year-old has lived there for four years and described it as the “best place in the world.”
“I thought it was terrible they were going to sell,” Camp said. “I don’t think (Aria is) going to buy it now. I don’t know. I hope not.”
Her favorite part about her home? The people. At least twice a day someone asks her how she’s doing, and “it’s fantastic,” she said. Her 56-year-old son lives there too.
As they peer into an uncertain future, Brey said she has no plans to slow down her group’s work. As Thursday’s meeting ended, she collected donations for legal fees during a discussion about next steps, including potentially campaigning to recall board members who favored a sale.
“I feel the power of people being together and united on this,” Brey said. “They know we mean business.”
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
As the Joint Finance Committee continues to make progress on completing the 2025-27 budget, a recent Marquette Law School poll reveals where voters stand on some of the key sticking points in the budget debate.
JFC plans to meet on the remaining topics, including the UW system, health care and the capital budget, Tuesday morning after delaying Friday’s meeting by 12 hours. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, remains hopeful the budget will be completed this week.
The next budget will not be approved by the July 1 deadline, so current spending levels from the 2023-25 budget will carry over into the next fiscal year.
Republicans are working to make a deal on the state budget that both Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and state senators will support. Senate Republicans have an 18-15 majority, so they can only lose one Republican vote without picking up votes from Democrats. Two Republican senators have voiced discontent with the current budget process.
K-12 funding vs. property taxes
The Marquette poll found 57% of Wisconsin residents would rather see lower property taxes, while 43% support more funding for K-12 schools — a figure that has been trending away from support for public schools over the past decade.
During the last budget cycle, Evers used a creative veto to increase caps on K-12 funding each year. To keep property taxes lower for residents under the so-called 400-year veto, the state would need to increase general state aid for public schools.
But the Republican budget provides no increase to general school aid, which Democrats argue could in turn lead school boards to raise property taxes and continue to rely on referendums to make up for the lack of state funding.
2024 saw a record number of school referendums with over half of all public school districts requesting additional funding to account for inflation and lack of financial support from the state, increasing taxpayers’ property taxes around the state.
Postpartum Medicaid
The poll also found 66% of residents want to see legislation passed to extend Medicaid coverage for new mothers to 12 months, rather than the current coverage of 60 days postpartum.
Evers proposed extending coverage to 12 months in his 2025-27 budget proposal, but JFC has yet to make a decision on this provision. The committee intended to vote Friday but delayed discussion on health services. Co-chair Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, said the committee plans to take action on health services, among other programs, at a “later date.”
Evers previously proposed extending coverage to 12 months in his 2021-23 budget request, but Republicans revised the budget to instead request 90 days of postpartum coverage — the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services denied the request, saying it would not approve a waiver for coverage under one year.
While there has been bipartisan support for extending postpartum coverage in the Senate and the Assembly, Vos previously blocked the bill from a hearing. Vos has expressed opposition to expanding welfare in the state.
UW system
Wisconsin voters were divided on support for the Universities of Wisconsin system, with 49% of those surveyed saying the UW system budget should stay the same size, 23% supporting a reduction and 27% supporting an increase.
The UW system has requested a record-high $856 million increase while Republican lawmakers have floated an $87 million cut to the system.
UW system leaders have pointed to Wisconsin’s ranking at 44th in the nation for public funding for universities and the closure of two-year branch campuses. When given this information, 41% supported an increase, while 57% of voters said the UW should still receive the same amount of state funding.
Evers called the potential cut a “nonstarter.”
Other budget-related topics in the poll include:
79% of Wisconsin voters said they were very or somewhat concerned about PFAS contaminating their drinking water, and 33% said the so-called “forever chemicals,” which are found in firefighting foam and nonstick cookware, were the most important issue impacting drinking water. Evers’ budget proposal included $145 million for a PFAS cleanup trust fund — one of 600 items removed by the JFC in early May.
While 71% of voters favor a “major increase” in state funding for special education. JFC increased reimbursement to 35% in year one and 37.5% in year two of the biennium over the current rate of 30%. Evers requested 60% reimbursement.
75% of Wisconsin voters supported comprehensive mental health services in schools. The JFC voted to provide $20 million over the next two years for school mental health programs. Evers proposed $170 million for comprehensive mental health services.
Support for marijuana legalization has continued to increase in the state. The most recent poll shows 67% of residents favor legalizing marijuana; the number of people in favor of legalization has grown nearly 20% since 2013. Evers proposed legalization in his budget, but Republicans removed it from consideration entirely in early May.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
A Wisconsin Watch reader asks: How much funding do the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Madison College receive from the U.S. military?
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has 198 active Department of Defense awards, totaling $221.3 million in funding, according to UW-Madison’s declaration from the Association of American Universities lawsuit against the Department of Defense.
Defense-funded research aims to expand “warfighter capabilities” and the U.S. “strategic and tactical advantage.” President Donald Trump’s Department of Defense tried to cap indirect costs at 15%.
Defense awards support research in fields directly related to the military, such as “cybersecurity, maritime navigation, materials science, injury prevention and recovery and military flight technology,” said UW-Madison Vice Chancellor for Research Dorota A. Grejner-Brzezinska in the lawsuit challenging the Defense Department’s attempt to limit indirect costs.
The Department of Defense awarded $67.4 million in grants to UW-Madison in 2023-24, making up 8% of total agency funding, the fourth-highest source after the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy. UW-Madison ranked sixth in national research expenditures with over $1.7 billion in the latest annual review.
UW-Madison also has 81 pending Defense grant proposals, as of June 13, 2025, with a requested total budget of $70.5 million, according to Grejner-Brzezinska’s declaration.
Indirect costs are costs that support research but are not directed to a specific award and include “costs for building maintenance, utilities, procurement of shared equipment, administrative services, information technology, libraries and compliance with federal regulations,” said Grejner-Brzezinska in the declaration.
On June 17, 2025, a federal judge in Boston temporarily granted universities a temporary restraining order, meaning they will temporarily operate with the previously negotiated indirect cost reimbursement rates of 55.5%. This follows an NIH cap of 15% on indirect costs, also blocked by a federal judge.
“The 15% rate cap will make most, if not all, of UW-Madison’s proposed and ongoing research projects infeasible,” Grejner-Brzezinska said.
Defense-funded studies at UW-Madison include a group of 30 scientists who study traumatic brain injuries, satellite data systems and artificial intelligence infrastructure and research.
Cuban asylum seeker Miguel Jerez Robles returned to family in McFarland on Thursday, a month after ICE agents arrested him following a routine immigration hearing in Miami.
His arrest was one of the first in a wave of courthouse arrests, which appear to be part of a new strategy by President Donald Trump’s administration to send many people who were in legal immigration processes on a fast-track to deportation. Jerez spent the next four weeks at an ICE detention center in Tacoma, Washington, uncertain what his future would hold.
Now, he is home.
“I still don’t believe it. I say it’s a miracle from God,” said Jerez, who got word he’d be released on his own recognizance just minutes before he was scheduled to request a bond before a judge.
Jerez still doesn’t know why he was arrested, or why he’s now been released. Andrew Billmann, a family friend, contacted Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin as soon as Jerez was detained. Jerez said he thinks that effort, along with news coverage about his detention, likely helped.
Miguel Jerez Robles hugs his sister Vivianne at Chicago O’Hare International Airport as his mother Celeste Robles Chacón (foreground) and wife Geraldine Cruz Dip look on. Jerez spent the last month at an immigration detention center in Tacoma, Washington. (Courtesy of Geraldine Cruz Dip)
He was released on Wednesday with just one other person, a fellow Cuban asylum seeker, though he says he met many other immigrants who came to the detention center in similar circumstances.
“They’d been living in the U.S. for three years. They had no criminal record. … Their cases were dismissed, and they were detained outside the courtroom,” Jerez said. “And they’re still detained.”
As he collected his clothes to leave the Northwest ICE Processing Center on Wednesday, an official told him just how unusual his situation was.
“He told me, ‘You’re very lucky because right now we’re not releasing anyone. Everyone who leaves here is going back to their country, or they’ve won an asylum case while detained, or they’ve gotten out on bond,’” Jerez said.
He agrees that he’s lucky. “There are a lot of people who don’t have the resources to pay for a lawyer. It’s very sad, what I saw inside there.”
Before his release, Jerez was connected with a local immigrant aid organization that brought him to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Billmann said.
“We booked a redeye for him, from (Seattle) to (Chicago),” Billmann wrote in a text message to the Cap Times and Wisconsin Watch Friday.
Billmann and his wife, Kathy, joined Jerez’s wife, sister and mother to pick him up at the airport Thursday morning.
Escape from Cuba
When Jerez crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in 2022, he turned himself in to Border Patrol agents and asked for asylum. He’d participated in protests against Cuba’s communist government in 2021 and had been targeted by the police and government ever since, his family said during his detention. Federal and international law requires the United States to allow people to apply for asylum if they fear persecution in their home countries based on their politics or identity.
At the time, Joe Biden was president and border agents routinely allowed asylum seekers to enter the country with temporary legal protections while their cases were pending in immigration court — a process that can take years due to court system backlogs.
Jerez hired a lawyer and followed the steps required by law. Then U.S. voters elected a new president who promised to carry out mass deportations. In January, Trump issued an executive order suspending legal protections for asylum seekers. In May, immigrant advocates say, judges began coordinating with ICE agents to dismiss asylum cases and detain asylum seekers in courthouses.
Jerez was detained in the first few days of that new strategy at courthouses, his attorney said. Jerez had flown to Miami with his wife and mother for the first hearing in his asylum case, usually just a bureaucratic step. Instead, at the request of the federal government’s attorney, the judge tossed his claim without explanation.
During the No Kings protest in McFarland, Andrew Billmann spreads the word about his friend, McFarland resident Miguel Jerez Robles, a Cuban asylum seeker who was detained by immigration officers outside his immigration hearing in Miami. (Ruthie Hauge / The Cap Times)
Plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents met him outside the courtroom, arresting him and placing him in expedited removal proceedings, where immigrants can face immediate deportation unless they can show a “credible fear” of persecution in their home country for their politics or identity.
ICE gives no reason for release
Just like his arrest, Jerez’s release left his lawyers and family with questions.
Billmann said he received an email from Baldwin’s office informing them Jerez would be released Wednesday.
Ismael Labrador with the Miami-based Gallardo Law Firm, said Friday ICE gave the legal team no explanation for Jerez’s release.
“We didn’t get anything from the deportation officer regarding the reason why he got released. We just got the good news,” Labrador said, noting the legal team got the call on Wednesday.
The Department of Homeland Security claimed Jerez was taken into custody because he entered the U.S. “illegally.”
“Most aliens who illegally entered the United States within the past two years are subject to expedited removals,” the DHS wrote in an email Friday. “(Former President Joe) Biden ignored this legal fact and chose to release millions of illegal aliens, including violent criminals, into the country with a notice to appear before an immigration judge. ICE is now following the law and placing these illegal aliens, like Miguel Jerez Robles, in expedited removal.”
“(Homeland Security) Secretary Noem is reversing Biden’s catch and release policy that allowed millions of unvetted illegal aliens to be let loose on American streets,” the DHS wrote in the email.
Jerez arrived in the U.S. more than two years ago and has no criminal record.
The department did not respond to follow up questions on why Jerez was released.
Baldwin played role behind the scenes
Baldwin confirmed Friday her office pushed for Jerez’s release.
“From day one, the Trump Administration has sought to divide our communities by attacking immigrants – from executive orders to new policies,” Baldwin wrote in an emailed statement.
The senator became involved after Billmann contacted her office in May.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin pushed for the release of asylum seeker Miguel Jerez Robles, who was arrested in an apparent Trump administration strategy to send many people who were in legal immigration processes on a fast-track to deportation. Baldwin is shown on Sept. 4, 2024, in Milwaukee. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Her office contacted ICE, requesting information on the reason behind Jerez’s detention and the status of his case.
“After that they checked in with us from time to time,” Billmann wrote in a text message to the Cap Times and Wisconsin Watch. “(But) Wednesday was a total surprise.”
The senator’s office said it followed up multiple times with the ICE’s Seattle field office seeking more information on Jerez’s request for release. On June 24, ICE officials told Baldwin’s office they had no record of a request for release, at which point the senator’s office connected with Jerez’s legal team and re-sent the request to the Seattle office.
“I am glad to have been able to help Miguel reunite with his family and stand ready to continue to fight for Wisconsinites facing similar situations,” Baldwin’s statement said.
Billmann said he and his wife, Kathy, postponed a planned vacation this week after hearing Jerez was coming home.
“This was a better way to spend the (days),” Billmann said.
Future remains unclear
Despite the family’s joyous reunion, Jerez’s future remains shrouded in uncertainty.
Geraldine Cruz Dip and husband Miguel Jerez Robles sleep in the car on the drive from Chicago to McFarland Thursday morning after Jerez was released from immigration detention. (Courtesy of Geraldine Cruz Dip)
On June 12, while at the detention center in Tacoma, Jerez completed an interview to assess the validity of his fear of persecution in Cuba.
Jerez’s attorney said the law firm has not yet received the results and does not know when it will receive that information.
“We should have gotten that by now,” Labrador said.
Labrador said Friday he and other lawyers had appealed Jerez’s expedited removal as soon as he was arrested in May. If Jerez wins that appeal, they will file a second asylum request. If he loses that appeal, he may be forced to return to ICE custody.
For now, Jerez said, it looks like he may be back where he was before his month-long imprisonment. When he was released from detention on Wednesday, he was handed the same I-220A form he’d received when he crossed the U.S. border.
He and his wife, Geraldine Cruz Dip, said they’re glad for a fresh chance to make his asylum case “in freedom.”
Back in May, the federal agency AmeriCorps was hit hard when the Trump administration placed 85% of its staff on administrative leave, terminated nearly $400 million in federal contracts for the National Civilian Community Corps and reneged on over $550 million of congressionally approved funding for 2025.
Actions at the federal level don’t always have immediate local impact, but in this case, organizations across Wisconsin were in shock as funding that they had been counting on suddenly disappeared. We invited people who were affected to get in touch with Wisconsin Watch video journalist Trisha Young. Within a day, she had multiple interviews lined up.
Just as we were getting ready to publish a video with those interviews, a federal judge ruled that funding commitments for this year had to be honored for states – including Wisconsin – that had collectively sued the federal government over the AmeriCorps cuts.
Trisha quickly got in touch with the people she’d interviewed, many of whom were still processing the news. We decided that this roller-coaster experience was a critical part of the story — or in some ways, the main story — and we reshot the interviews.
We learned a lot from reporting this story, and we hope that viewers will consider a few questions as they watch the video: How much did you know about AmeriCorps and the programs it funds in Wisconsin? If you think these programs are doing valuable work, then how should they be funded?
Wisconsin Watch is seeking a resourceful, agile and detail-oriented executive assistant to support the executive function. Reporting to our CEO, this role will ensure smooth project execution, effective communication and timely delivery of administrative functions. This role requires exceptional organizational skills, discretion, attention to detail, and the ability to manage multiple priorities in a mission-driven environment.
About Wisconsin Watch
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit news company providing trustworthy reporting that investigates problems, explores solutions and serves the public. Our mission is to strengthen the quality of community life and self-government in Wisconsin by providing people with the knowledge they need to navigate their lives, drive forward solutions and hold those with power accountable. We pursue the truth through accurate, fair, independent, rigorous, nonpartisan reporting. We value transparency, collaboration, innovation and a spirit of public service. These priorities guide our investigations, which expose wrongdoing and deficiencies, explore solutions to problems and bear witness to those in vulnerable circumstances.
Duties and responsibilities
Executive support (50%)
Manage the executive director’s calendar, appointments, travel arrangements, and correspondence.
Prepare and edit correspondence, communications, presentations, and other documents.
Conduct research, compile data and prepare reports for internal and external audiences.
Act as a liaison between the executive director and internal/external stakeholders.
Assist with grant reporting, donor communications and event coordination as needed.
Handle confidential information with discretion and professionalism.
Board liaison (20%)
Serve as the main point of contact between the Board of Directors and the executive director.
Coordinate and schedule board and committee meetings, including logistics, venue and technology.
Track board member terms, attendance and compliance with bylaws and policies.
Support board recruitment, onboarding and orientation processes.
Maintain up-to-date records for all board-related documents.
Operational support & team development (20%)
Contribute to administrative process enhancements and participate in team-based problem-solving.
Support special projects across departments, including staff onboarding, process automation or audits.
Assist with internal initiatives that drive professional development and organizational culture.
Plan internal meeting agendas; facilitate internal meetings as needed.
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Participate in ongoing training and knowledge sharing.
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Ensure data integrity and adherence to firm standards in documentation and communication.
Monitor task queues and prioritize workflow to meet project deadlines.
Participate in internal meetings and contribute to operational improvement efforts.
Stay current on policies, procedures and compliance requirements relevant to the organization.
Qualifications
Minimum of 5 years of experience in an executive support role, preferably in a nonprofit setting.
Experience working with boards of directors or senior leadership teams.
Strong organizational and time management skills with attention to detail.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Demonstrated ability to handle confidential and sensitive information with discretion.
Commitment to the mission, values and goals of the organization.
Possesses exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
Demonstrates a proactive, problem-solving mindset with a focus on outcomes.
Is highly organized, detail-oriented and capable of juggling multiple priorities.
Is familiar and comfortable with various technologies, from Google Workspace (Sheets, Docs, etc.) and CRMs to social platforms, ensuring smooth execution of tasks and communication across different tools.
Location: The executive assistant will be located in Wisconsin, preferably in the greater Madison or Milwaukee areas.
Status, salary and benefits:
Full-time, hybrid position.
Salary range: $40,000 – $65,000.
5 weeks of vacation, retirement fund contribution, paid sick days, paid family and caregiver leave, subsidized medical and dental premiums, vision coverage, and more.
Final salary offer amounts will carefully consider multiple factors, including prior experience, expertise and location.
Deadline: Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. For best consideration, apply by July 14, 2025.
To apply: Please submit your resume in this application form and answer each of these three questions in 50 words or less.
Wisconsin Watch is dedicated to improving our newsroom by better reflecting the people we cover. We are committed to diversity and building an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and ages. We encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities. We are an equal opportunity employer and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, or any other status protected under applicable law.
Recent presidents have repeatedly ordered military attacks on other countries despitequestions over whether congressional approval was needed.
The latest was Republican Donald Trump’s June 21 bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities. His administration said he had authority to limit nuclear proliferation.
Trump in 2017 cited national security interests for a missile strike on a Syrian base that was used to launch chemical weapon attacks on Syrian civilians.
In 2021, Democrat Joe Biden ordered an airstrike on Iran-backed militia groups in Syria, citing “self-defense.”
In 2011, Democrat Barack Obama ordered “limited” airstrikes on Libya. He said he was trying to protect pro-democracy protesters targeted by Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
The Constitution saysonly Congress has the power to declare war.
But that provision “has never been interpreted — by either Congress or the executive branch — to require congressional authorization for every military action that the president could initiate,” a Council on Foreign Relations legal expert wrote.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Reading Time: 10minutesClick here to read highlights from the story
Last month, a McFarland man who arrived in the U.S. three years ago from Cuba attended what he thought would be the first hearing in his asylum case. Instead, in what appears to be a nationwide trend, a judge dismissed his case and ICE arrested him.
Miguel Jerez Robles was among the first people swept up in a recent wave of arrests inside immigration court buildings, a place considered off limits for such enforcement until the Trump administration loosened restrictions.
His story illustrates the volatility and randomness of the country’s immigration processes. While Jerez is now imprisoned in a Tacoma, Washington, detention center, his sister — who arrived in the U.S. just days later and was given different paperwork — has a green card.
Editor’s note:A day after this story was published Miguel Jerez Robles was released from an ICE detention center in Tacoma, Washington. Read an update here.
When McFarland resident Miguel Jerez Robles boarded a plane to Miami last month, he thought he’d be attending a routine immigration hearing about his asylum application and enjoying a rare vacation with his wife and mother.
The 26-year-old and his family had come to Wisconsin in 2022, fleeing political persecution from the Cuban government. They moved to the village just outside Madison, home to a friend his brother-in-law met while driving a taxi in Santiago de Cuba.
Jerez rented an apartment near the high school and got a job delivering packages all over southern Wisconsin, first for FedEx and later for an Amazon subcontractor. He and his wife started a popular YouTube channel, Cubanitos en la USA, where they shared videos about what it was like to work as a delivery driver, buy a car or shop for groceries in Wisconsin.
The Florida trip was Jerez’s first vacation since arriving. Jerez planned to go to the May 22 preliminary hearing in his asylum case, then take his family to the beach and explore the city.
Instead, immigration authorities arrested Jerez and sent him to a detention center, sweeping him up in what appears to be a coordinated strategy to fast-track deportations.
When Jerez appeared in the Miami courtroom, a federal attorney asked the judge to dismiss his asylum claim. According to Jerez’s family, the judge agreed without explanation, then wished him luck.
Jerez headed to meet his wife, Geraldine Cruz Dip, and his mother, Celeste Robles Chacón, who were waiting just outside the fifth-floor courtroom.
Miguel Jerez Robles and Geraldine Cruz Dip met while working at a Chinese restaurant in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. They came to the United States seeking asylum in 2022 and married in Fitchburg in 2023. (Photo courtesy of the couple)
Plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were waiting too. They handcuffed and arrested him before he could reach his family, his mother said.
Three days later, Jerez was shackled and flown to a detention center in Tacoma, Washington, through a process called expedited removal, which allows the government to deport certain immigrants without first hearing their cases in court.
His wife and mother returned home to McFarland alone.
“The vacation turned into a nightmare,” Cruz said. “Everything fell apart in a moment.”
Jerez was among the first people swept up in a recent wave of arrests inside immigration court buildings, a place considered off limits for such enforcement until the Trump administration loosened restrictions earlier this year. Some, like Jerez, report judges unexpectedly dismissing their cases in what some immigrants and attorneys believe is a coordinated effort to quickly detain large numbers of people as soon as they lose legal immigration status — including those who, like Jerez, have no criminal history.
“It’s easier to go to a courthouse and pick up everyone there than go searching for them at home,” Cruz said.
These arrests, which appear to have begun in late May, are part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown, some of which he promised on the campaign trail. The scale and methods reach far beyond what many expected from an administration that has vowed to prioritize removing people who threaten public safety. Recent ICE raids at schools and other sensitive locations have sparked multi-day protests in Los Angeles and other major cities.
For asylum seekers like Jerez, who followed steps laid out by the previous administration, the policy shift means they’ll now likely have to make their cases from behind bars.
His story illustrates the volatility and randomness of the country’s immigration processes. Had Jerez arrived five years earlier, before President Barack Obama ended the “wet foot/dry foot” policy that applied to Cuban immigrants since the 1960s, he and his family would have immediately qualified for legal status and a pathway to citizenship. And if he’d only been given the same paperwork as his sister — who arrived for the same reasons just days later — he may have a green card today like she does.
Attorneys: Judges and ICE collaborate in courthouse arrests
Jerez’s arrest shocked his attorneys too. For much of the past two decades, officials reserved the expedited removal process for immigrants arrested near the border within two weeks of arriving in the country.
Former President George W. Bush first implemented these guidelines in 2004. However, during his first term, Trump expanded use of expedited removal procedures to include immigrants anywhere in the United States who have spent less than two years in the country. Former President Joe Biden rescinded that expansion, only to see Trump restore it in January through one of the first executive orders of his new term.
People who are convicted of certain felonies can face expedited removal outside of normal parameters.
“But these people, they are clean. They have no crimes, no record, no nothing,” Ismael Labrador, an attorney with Miami-based Gallardo Law Firm who is representing Jerez, said of those affected by Trump’s latest tactics.
Jerez has been in the country longer than two years. But the Trump administration argues expedited removal should apply to similarly situated immigrants, as long as immigration authorities processed them within two years of their arrival.
“He had everything in order, and he was arbitrarily arrested and placed in expedited removal when he doesn’t qualify to be in expedited removal,” Labrador said.
Geraldine Cruz Dip, left, and Vivianne Jerez show a screenshot they took during a video call with their husband and brother Miguel Jerez Robles, who’s been detained at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, since May. They say detention has made him depressed. (Ruthie Hauge / The Cap Times)
The American Civil Liberties Union of New York sued the Trump administration in January, arguing Trump violated the rulemaking process and the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause in expanding the scope of expedited removal.
Now, the administration is further accelerating removals by dispatching ICE agents to courthouses to immediately arrest following the dismissal of immigration cases.
Labrador isn’t surprised immigration judges, government attorneys and ICE agents appear to be collaborating on the plan. While the federal government’s judicial branch houses most judges, immigration judges are part of the executive branch, employed by the Department of Justice.
“They work for the same boss,” he said, referring to Trump.
In light of the new practice, the nonprofit National Immigration Project recommends immigration attorneys consider requesting virtual hearings to protect clients from courthouse arrest.
“Unfortunately, if I remember correctly, he was imprisoned on the second day this new (courthouse arrest) strategy had begun,” Labrador said. “It was a surprise to all of us.”
Some of Labrador’s other clients have been detained in similar ways, prompting him to begin requesting virtual hearings.
He followed the rules. Then the rules changed.
Jerez sought asylum in the United States after mass demonstrations in his homeland in 2021, when people in dozens of Cuban cities took to the streets to protest shortages of food and medicine, as well as their government’s strict response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jerez had spoken out against Cuba’s communist government and refused to perform his mandatory military service, putting him and his family in the crosshairs of the authorities, Cruz said. She recalled a time when police interrogated him for six hours and broke his cellphone.
“They told him that the same thing would happen to us as to that phone,” Cruz said. Another time, she said, the police chief came to the family’s home ahead of another round of protests and told them that if they wanted to live, they’d stay home.
The couple lost their jobs at a Chinese restaurant, she said, after police threatened to shut it down if they weren’t fired. The pressure wouldn’t let up, Cruz said, so Jerez and three family members flew to Nicaragua in separate trips and then spent two months traveling by land to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Jerez and his family followed all the government’s requirements while pursuing permanent legal status, his immigration attorneys said.
That included presenting themselves to Border Patrol agents and requesting asylum when they arrived in Nogales, Arizona, in 2022. Jerez was handed an immigration form called an I-220A, allowing immigrants to be released into the United States as long as they stay on the government’s radar — following certain rules and appearing at all court hearings.
Vivianne Jerez, sister of Miguel Jerez Robles, holds a letter from the Madison Police Department verifying that her brother has no criminal record in the jurisdiction. (Ruthie Hauge / The Cap Times)
Celeste Robles Chacón, mother of Miguel Jerez Robles, was waiting for him outside his asylum hearing when he was arrested by plainclothes immigration enforcement agents. (Ruthie Hauge / The Cap Times)
After the family settled in McFarland, Jerez drove to Milwaukee every year for a check-in with immigration agents. He never missed an appointment, his wife said. The government issued a work permit that authorized him to work in the U.S. until 2029.
In 2023, Jerez’s sister Vivianne received a green card, making her a permanent U.S. resident. That’s because she received different paperwork upon her release at the border. It placed her on humanitarian parole, which provides temporary legal status to people from certain countries.
The 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act allows Cubans to apply for permanent residency after having lived in the United States for more than a year. But Jerez was not eligible while his asylum case was pending in immigration court. The U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals ruled in 2023 that immigrants with I-220A status could not apply for green cards.
Meanwhile, a Trump executive action ended humanitarian parole for people arriving from a slew of countries, including Cuba.
Border agents’ choice to nudge a brother and sister toward divergent immigration pathways appears to be random, the family said. That fits a trend, said Labrador, as border agents receive little to no guidance — and wide discretion — on what paperwork fits each situation.
Seeking asylum a second time
Once in expedited removal proceedings, immigrants can be immediately deported unless the government determines they have “credible fear” that they would be persecuted in their home country because of their political views or identity.
On June 12, guards at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma told Jerez to get dressed to go to the library, his sister said. When he got there, he learned this would be his official interview about why he’s afraid to return to Cuba — determining whether he’ll get a chance to bring his asylum case.
No one has told Jerez when he’ll learn the result, Cruz said, so she asked ChatGPT.
“It says it takes three to five business days, so I think it would be this week,” Cruz said in a June 17 interview. As of Friday, she was still waiting for news.
Based on Labrador’s experience, it can take up to a month.
If Jerez passes the interview, his lawyers will file a second asylum application. But that wouldn’t prompt Jerez’s release.
“He will have to defend his case in custody, unfortunately,” Labrador said.
Jerez’s mother calls uncertainty “psychological torture” for detainees.
Guards have offered Jerez and other detainees the chance to sign papers consenting to be deported, Cruz said.
“From the time they arrest them, the first thing they say is, ‘Sign this and you’ll go to your home country, or prepare to be detained here for up to two years,’” Cruz said.
Jerez and his family are still trying to understand why the government detained him after he did everything it asked, including attending immigration and court appointments, working and paying taxes.
“He doesn’t have so much as a traffic ticket,” his sister, Vivianne, said.
But they know he’s not alone. On TikTok, they see one woman after another “crying because they took their children or their husbands,” Cruz said.
They know others who voted for Trump, thinking he’d only deport criminals, only to have their loved ones detained too, Cruz added.
“He just wants white Americans who speak English when really Latinos are this country’s main workforce,” she said. “If they said they were going to search for people with criminal records, why are they arresting people who don’t have any kind of criminal record?”
In a recent New York Times interview, Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, claimed the administration is prioritizing “the worst first” for deportation but acknowledged other immigrants may get swept up in the fray.
“We’re prioritizing public safety threats, people who have committed crimes in this country or who have committed crimes in their home country and came here to hide,” Homan said. “But I’ve also said from Day One, if you’re in the country illegally, you’re not off the table.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to questions about Jerez’s detention.
‘A total disaster’
To talk to his family from the Tacoma detention center, Jerez waits his turn to make video calls on a tablet shared by around a dozen detainees.
On those calls, he usually looks sad, Cruz said. She thinks detention has made him depressed.
Labrador also tries to speak with Jerez as often as possible. The conditions at the facility, one of the country’s largest, are “a total disaster,” he said.
“They are sleeping on the ground. They are being moved constantly. They are waking up in the middle of the night for (head) counting,” he said, adding that fights occur regularly and detainees get little to no medical treatment.
But Jerez’s mood was better last Saturday. When he called his family that day, his sister had just returned from protesting the Trump administration at the “No Kings” rally in McFarland, where she’d carried a hand-written sign covered with family photos .
“Freedom for Miguel,” it read. “He is not a criminal. He is a husband, a son and brother.”
He smiled as they showed him photos and told him about the people who approached her to express sympathy or outrage. Some hugged her and cried. Some said they would pray for her brother.
Cruz saved screenshots from that call. In the three weeks since his detention began, Vivianne said, it was the first time she’d seen him looking happy.
Andrew Billmann, the friend her husband met in his taxi years before, protested alongside Vivianne Jerez, carrying a sign that included a QR code with more information about the detention.
During the No Kings protest in McFarland, Andrew Billmann spreads the word about his friend, McFarland resident Miguel Jerez Robles, a Cuban asylum seeker who was detained by immigration officers outside his immigration hearing in Miami. (Ruthie Hauge / The Cap Times)
“This is not someone that snuck in. This is not someone who’s trying to conceal their location. He’s been completely forthcoming from the beginning,” Billmann said in an interview.
Billmann and his wife, Kathy, have helped the family settle in McFarland, find housing, set up bank accounts and stay on top of their immigration paperwork.
“They’ve literally done everything right,” Billmann said. “I helped Miguel get his driver’s license. He’s got a Social Security number, a work permit. This is all as it’s supposed to go.”
Instead, the arrest has upended life for the whole family. Vivianne canceled her June 9 wedding ceremony. That cost the couple $1,000, but they couldn’t stomach trying to celebrate. Their loved ones cried as the couple quietly signed their marriage license at the McFarland apartment they share with her mother.
And now? The family waits.
Vivianne, who worked as a doctor in Cuba, recently finished training to become a U.S. registered nurse. Her graduation photo sits in her living room, but she hasn’t celebrated that feat either. On the coffee table sit the now-shriveled roses Jerez gave his mom for Mother’s Day. She can’t bring herself to throw them out.
On the couch, Cruz sorts through the evidence she’s marshaled as proof of her husband’s good character: the letter from the Madison Police Department saying he had no record with the department, the awards he received from his delivery jobs, the letter in which his boss called him “an exemplary employee” and said he was “praying for his eventual return.”
Geraldine Cruz Dip, Vivianne Jerez and Celeste Robles Chacón discuss the status of their family member, Miguel Jerez Robles, a Cuban immigrant and refugee, who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers after a scheduled immigration court hearing in Miami. (Ruthie Hauge / The Cap Times)
Cruz, who drives for the same company, has continued delivering Amazon packages to pay the bills.
Billmann set up a GoFundMe page where community members can donate money to help Cruz cover living expenses while her detained husband can’t work.
If the court gives Jerez another chance at release, she plans to use that money to pay his bond.
“They’re just wonderful, wonderful people,” Billmann said. “It’s just absolutely crazy what they’re putting this family through.”
The story was co-produced by The Cap Times and Wisconsin Watch.
Unauthorized immigrants arenoteligible for traditional, federally funded Medicaid, which helps cover medical costs for low-income people.
They havenever been eligible. A 1996 welfare reform law signed by Democratic President Bill Clinton also requires most authorized immigrants to waitfive years for eligiblity.
President Donald Trump has proposedreducing federal Medicaid funds to those states. That would cause 1.4 million people to lose coverage, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated.
Medicaid costs nearly $900 billion annually, two-thirds from the federal government and one-third from the states.
In Wisconsin, Medicaid serves 1.28 million people, more than a third of them children. Among adults, 45% work full time, 28% part time. The annual cost is $12.1 billion, $4.2 billion of it in state spending.
While unauthorized immigrants can’t get Medicaid in Wisconsin, they can apply to receive emergency care covered by state Medicaid.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
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