People have been calling Jennifer Maldonado’s phone ever since the morning of Sept. 25, when word began spreading that federal immigration authorities were picking up dairy farm workers in a Walmart parking lot in Manitowoc.
The news that 21 people without legal status were detained by the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has shaken people in Manitowoc County, an agricultural and manufacturing community that relies on Latino immigrants.
Maldonado, who leads a local immigrant advocacy group called Crusaders for Justicia, said people are asking her: “Is it safe? Are they still here? Can we take our kids to school? What happens if we get taken?”
Downtown Manitowoc as seen, Wednesday, September 17, 2025, in Manitowoc, Wis.
“There’s just this mad rush of trying to protect their families,” she said. “It’s frightening for the whole community.”
Many of the facts of the operation are still unclear.
The FBI has said nine of the 21 people are suspected of sexual assault and human trafficking of children. However, the agency has provided no evidence for the statement. The FBI has declined to answer questions about what prompted the operation and what charges, if any, the arrested individuals are facing.
ICE has not responded to multiple requests for comment from the Journal Sentinel.
The Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Office also declined to answer whether deputies assisted in the operation. Sheriff Daniel Hartwig was unavailable for comment.
As community leaders and clergy in Manitowoc try to piece together answers, they’re also reflecting on the impact on the broader community and the feeling that hardworking people were swept up with suspected criminals.
“I don’t believe this is going to be a one-and-done type thing,” said Maldonado. “I do believe that we are just seeing the cusp of the problems that are about to ensue.”
Jennifer Maldonado leads Crusaders of Justicia in Manitowoc.
Pastors, community leaders piece together information
With little being said through official channels, community leaders are gathering information piece by piece.
Maldonado spoke to a representative at the sheriff’s office who told her that deputies helped the FBI serve warrants for specific individuals in residential areas, where they made some arrests. The sheriff’s office was not involved in the arrests in the Walmart parking lot with ICE, the representative told her.
Maldonado does not know why ICE apparently detained people there. It’s well-known that people gather there to carpool to nearby farms, she said.
Most of the detained workers are Mexican nationals and are being held at Dodge County Detention Center, Maldonado said.
Based on conversations with local law enforcement, Deacon Mark LeGreve of St. Francis of Assisi Parish said he had the impression that the operation was going after a few high-value targets, and others may have been picked up because they were easily accessible.
Two members of the Catholic parish were detained in the operation, LeGreve said. He said they agreed to be deported to Honduras.
Deacon Mark LeGreve reads the Gospel reading during Ash Wednesday service at the Grand Avenue location of St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Wednesday, March 5, 2025, in Manitowoc, Wis.
As people reached out to church staff asking how they could find their detained family members, LeGreve noted “an intensified fear” the Latino community. Some are questioning whether to go to church, seek health care or go to work.
That sense of anxiety impacts employers, churches, schools and more, he said. The parish is praying for more open, peaceful dialogue in the country, LeGreve said.
“It strikes home,” he said.
The Rev. Matthew Sauer is the pastor of the Manitowoc Cooperative Ministry, serving both Peace United Church of Christ and First Presbyterian Church. He was concerned that workers were apparently detained on their way to work, and he said he wanted authorities to distinguish between suspected criminals and others just trying to make a living.
“Violent offenders need to be prosecuted, and hardworking families don’t deserve to be scapegoated,” he said.
“This isn’t being weak on crime,” he added. “It’s about capturing what appear to be innocent families and disrupting their lives just because they happen to be in a particular place at a particular time.”
The Rev. Matthew Sauer speaks at a vigil in 2024.
Dairy industry reliant on immigrant labor
Statewide, and especially in Manitowoc County, undocumented immigrants make up much of the dairy industry workforce. That’s in part because there is no year-round agricultural visa available in the U.S.
Manitowoc County has the most mega-dairies, or concentrated animal feeding operations, of any county in the state, at 25. These farms are massive operations with at least 700 cows each, making them especially reliant on undocumented immigrant labor, much more than family farms.
Darin Von Ruden, president of the Wisconsin Farmers Union, echoed how much uncertainty there is for farmers and workers after an immigration operation.
“We’re putting hardworking people in a bad spot,” he said.
Manitowoc’s Latino community is well-established and integrated into the broader population, said Sachin Shivaram, chief executive officer of Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry in Manitowoc. Shivaram has been a vocal advocate for immigrants in the workforce.
People may come for farm work then go on to other work, contributing to the growth of the area, he said.
“Those people stay here, and then they get jobs and build families,” Shivaram said.
When one farm worker is detained, “news spreads very quickly,” said a Manitowoc County farmer, Michael Slattery. Other workers stop showing up for work, and it’s hard to find anyone to replace them. Cows aren’t milked, pens aren’t cleaned and calves go unfed, he said.
According to Slattery, a man who has lived in the U.S. for 20 years and was trying to legalize his status is among those who were detained Sept. 25.
Slattery spoke to the man’s wife, who is a U.S. citizen. Together they have five U.S. citizen children, he said.
The man was walking out to his truck before 6 a.m. to head to work when he was picked up by ICE agents who were in the neighborhood executing a warrant on a nearby house, Slattery said. The agents arrested four people in the house. According to Slattery, the agents did not know who the man was, but took him too.
His wife walked out to find his lunch still resting on the hood of his truck, he said.
Sophie Carson is a general assignment reporter who reports on religion and faith, immigrants and refugees and more. Contact her at scarson@gannett.com or 920-323-5758.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Manitowoc residents search for answers after ICE arrests 21 people