The Land Stewardship Project is an organization that believes we will not have a truly sustainable farm and food system until it is sustainable for everyone. That point was reinforced recently when we gathered input from our members and allies while putting together our current long range plan. That’s one reason LSP is working closely with partners who are on the ground in immigrant communities. One way we’re doing this is by being a member of the Immigrant Defense Network (IDN), a coalition of more than 90 Minnesota groups formed to protect the rights of immigrants and to make sure accurate information is being circulated in those communities. This work includes co-facilitating the Greater Minnesota caucus of IDN with COPAL-Minnesota.
In a socio-political landscape of false, harmful narratives about immigrants and brazen arrests with no due process conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, LSP members are joining with our allies to speak up for those who are often scapegoated and targeted.
For example, at the beginning of the month LSP members participated in May Day gatherings in Montevideo, Mankato, and Rochester, organized by the Immigrant Defense Network. Volunteers packed “May Day Baskets” full of information about immigrant rights and what to do if ICE approaches a place of work. Participants then delivered the baskets to local businesses with immigrant employees, engaging managers in conversations about how they can care for their workers.
Theresa Zeman, Kathy Florin, and James Kanne were among the LSP members who attended a May Day action, and a highlight for each of them was connecting with lots of other people from their regions who care about immigrant rights and want to make their communities welcoming and thriving.
“Immigrants of any ‘status’ are keeping small towns in southwest Minnesota alive,” says Theresa, who grew up on a small diversified farm and has lived in towns across southern Minnesota, from Winona to Saint James to Madison. “They keep the schools open, and many of them work on farms or in the food processing plants that farmers need in order to get their products to market.”
As Ryan Perez, the director of organizing for COPAL, explains in a recent LSP Ear to the Ground podcast, immigrants have long been a vital part of the food system in the Upper Midwest. The early sugar beet industry started employing many Latino immigrants in the 1920s, and in the 1940s, Mexican laborers came to the region under the “Bracero” program to ease the shortage of agricultural workers. Immigrants from Latin America and beyond make up a high percentage of employees at meatpacking and food processing plants in rural Midwestern communities.
Many rural and small-town people are excited to welcome newcomers to their communities and want to support their transition, and they have the motivation and resourcefulness to find ways to support their new neighbors. For example, the volunteer-run Afghan Support Network in Winona is based on a community-supported model pioneered in Canada, designed when traditional refugee resettlement agencies were overwhelmed.
Kathy, who attended the May Day event in Rochester and grew up in the Driftless Region, is a volunteer with the Afghan Support Network, helping to connect recently resettled refugees from Afghanistan with resources and community.
“It’s important for LSP to be involved with this work because everything is connected,” she says. “Climate change, access to land, and clean water, armed conflicts, movement of people — these aren’t isolated issues!”
James has been involved with Land Stewardship Project for decades, and now that he has retired from dairy farming, he works as an LSP organizer.
“I am really happy to see that LSP is reaching into this space,” he says. “We are now getting to the point where we are establishing relationships, getting those ideas out there, working with people as allies. If all we are doing is trying to keep what European settlers took, that isn’t sustainable. The farm and food system of the future is about being together on the land, not perpetuating the white establishment.”
Through their volunteer work and connections via farm mentorship, Kathy, James, and Theresa each personally know new Americans who are affected by the increased threat of deportation without due process as well as false narratives around issues like race, crime, and the role they play in the job market and the economy. So they were grateful for the opportunity to talk with businesses and employers about how they could care for their workers and clients.
“I talked to a manager at an assisted living home that employs a lot of student or first-generation immigrants,” says James, “and he was really grateful for the resources and wanted to learn more.”
A couple years ago, Kathy went on a trip to Brownsville, Texas, to support new arrivals to the U.S., talk with those in Mexico waiting for their asylum appointments, and learn from the stories of people immigrating across the southern border.
“There’s this ‘free and easy’ narrative, but just getting to the southern border is an intense and harrowing experience,” she says. “What strikes me most from the stories I heard is the incredible resilience of these people and the commitment to their families and communities.”
“The time is now,” says Theresa, who is a retired nurse and passionate about healthy communities. “We see what is happening, and we know what we want and need. When there is a threat to our neighbors, those of us who aren’t under threat should show up.”
While gathering with so many other people committed to supporting new Americans was heartening for all three of these LSP members, they know that there is still work to do when it comes to shifting the narrative about immigration in their communities.
“Most of my neighbors will always defend the people who work for them,” says James. “But one person’s worker is another person’s ‘illegal immigrant.’ We have to help folks overcome this disconnect and see that we are stronger together.”
“They are our neighbors,” says Theresa.
“These are the people I want for my neighbors,” affirms James. “These are the people I want for my friends.”
“Everything is connected,” says Kathy. “If we are going to take care of the land, we have to take care of the people.”
LSP membership organizer Clara Sanders can be reached via e-mail. LSP’s Immigrant Community Care Resource Page has links to information on supporting the immigrant community.