Others argued from a humanitarian point of view, and shared stories of the emotional consequences of deportation.

“We’re dealing with human rights, we’re dealing with human beings,” said Michael Slattery, another dairy farmer.

Isabel Martinez, a 12-year-old from Manitowoc, told the audience the story of her father’s deportation when she was 7.

Her family was waiting for her dad to come home from work, but got a phone call instead, saying he had been picked up by ICE. The next month was filled with visits to “faraway places just to see dad behind glass.”

The last time she saw her dad, she watched him be “chained to a row of other mothers and fathers” and taken away. He yelled back at his family, “Don’t forget me!” That was six years ago, and Martinez hasn’t seen her dad since then.

“My life was shattered that day and will never be the same,” she said. “The pain I feel everyday will never go away.”

A similar bill recently passed in Texas, and Myrna Orozco Gallos, a Houston resident, said that when Hurricane Harvey hit, people who “desperately needed help” refused to go to shelters because of fear of deportation, she said. She called the legislation “dangerous” and urged Wisconsin not to pass it.