As a dairy farmer in Wisconsin, I know what's happening in the Twin Cities right now is not about immigration. Immigrants milk the vast majority of the cows in Wisconsin. Sure, there are a few small farms like ours, crazy and “inefficient” enough to do most of the work ourselves because we’re in it for the lifestyle not the money. But undeniably if ICE did the kind of “wholesale” deportation they claim to, the grocery store shelves would be empty.

Did you eat today? You should probably thank an immigrant unless you grew it all yourself.

What's happening in the Twin Cities is not about immigration. It's about power.

Of course, if you are an immigrant, or the 12-year-old daughter of an immigrant single father who has been in hiding in your own house for weeks in fear of a masked gunman breaking down your door, it probably feels like this is definitely about immigration. (Or racism, or xenophobia.) I wouldn’t disagree.

What's clear to me is that immigration is being used by all those in power to divide us as people against each other. Our immigration system is badly broken; it doesn’t serve the public or new immigrants. Congress hasn’t passed an immigration bill since 1996. But that is just how big business wants it. Big business benefits from the broken system and keeping the public divided on the issue prevents us from finding the common ground to repair the situation. And I believe that there is a lot of common ground.

We talk about ourselves as a nation of immigrants, pride ourselves as being a safe haven for those in need, but the stories I have heard from immigrant dairy workers is that the only thing they have more of in the US is money. Not more happiness, freedom or dignity. The land of the free rings hollow for many immigrants who cannot vote, drive, get student loans or apply for government assistance.

Meanwhile there is reasonable angst that is not racism from a general public who just wants to know what to expect and what the rules are. I believe there are some things for which there is broad public support. The public wants reasonable rules that are followed and enforced. I believe most of us support some migration to this country and paths to citizenship for those who are already integrated into our communities.

Unfortunately, finding a common ground on immigration doesn’t seem to be what any of the politicians want, and I suspect I know why. What big business wants, and nowhere more than in agriculture and the food system, is a cheap steady supply of labor. And what better way to guarantee it than to let folks in, threaten deportation, deny their rights, and ensure that if anyone stands up for themselves there is someone behind them ready to take their job.

We need to stand together as working class and middle-class Americans, and we need to stand with the immigrants in our communities. Those in power, from both political parties, have failed to deliver a plan for guaranteeing the freedoms we say we stand for to everyone inside our country. At the same time, they have failed in delivering a plan for how many new faces we can welcome each year, where, when, and how. It's time to demand better, not tear each other apart.