In 2021, Carlos Martinez took a chance on a dream.

The native of Mexico submitted his resume to HART Design & Manufacturing, a Green Bay-based manufacturer of cheese processing and packaging machines that are deployed across five continents.

Martinez, a mechatronics engineer, had worked on HART machines years prior at Mexico’s Groupo Lala, one of the world’s largest dairy companies.

“He really liked our equipment, looked us up many years later and found we were recruiting for a field service technician,” says HART Director of Human Resources Heather Marconi. “As a hiring professional, I’ll be honest: I was a little nervous at first. I’d never recruited anyone from outside the United States and didn’t know all that was involved.”

But after a series of virtual interviews, Marconi says it became clear that Martinez was the perfect candidate for the role, regardless of the additional steps required for hiring a non-U.S. citizen.

“He’s just an impressive individual,” Marconi says. “He’s charismatic. He’s intelligent. He’s someone we would like to have on our team. The other thing is, he’s incredibly skilled. The position that he is in is highly technical. Our equipment is very complicated. It’s very fast, and not everyone understands that.”

In June 2021, Martinez accepted the job offer with HART, applied for a Trade NAFTA (TN) visa and relocated from Mexico to Green Bay, leaving behind a young son and wife, Ana, who at the time was pregnant with the couple’s second child.

“I picked him up at the airport and he had a suitcase and a backpack and that was it,” Marconi says. “Talk about putting all your hopes and dreams into one basket.”

Two months later, Martinez’s family — including his newborn daughter whom he met for the first time at the airport — joined him in Green Bay.

The magnitude of Martinez’s decision wasn’t lost on Marconi, who assisted Martinez in securing housing, transportation, a Social Security number and bank account, among the many other things needed to build a life in a new country.

“It’s a pretty big decision to invest in that future,” Marconi says. “He took a big gamble on HART Design and put a lot of trust in our hands.”

American dreams

Martinez isn’t alone. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, immigration drove U.S. population growth in 2024 to its highest rate in nearly a quarter century. Between 2023 and 2024, 2.8 million people migrated to the U.S., accounting for 84% of the nation’s 3.3 million increase in population last year.

International migration has been on the rise for several years, with net increases of 1.7 million in 2022 and 2.3 million in 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Some employers are viewing this increase in immigration as a boon to their hiring efforts. Immigration and its potential to fill labor gaps was the focus of a panel discussion at the Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance’s quarterly membership meeting Dec. 11 at Fox Valley Technical College’s D.J. Bordini Center. At the meeting NEWMA chair Jeff Berg, vice president operations at Voith US Inc., shared some recent findings from NEWMA’s 2025 manufacturing vitality index study that highlighted Northeast Wisconsin’s ongoing talent challenges.

“As NEWMA, we have to look at how we are bringing new people to our organizations,” Berg said. “And immigration is a solution.”

Representatives from three local immigrant resettlement agencies, three manufacturing companies and one staffing agency participated in the panel, sharing success stories and strategies for hiring and retaining immigrant talent as a means to meet labor demands.

Brian Kaminske, director of human resources at Waupaca Foundry, was one of the panelists who has seen success with hiring immigrants. He said at the foundry’s Waupaca location there have been between 150 and 200 primarily Spanish-speaking immigrant hires who have been critical to meeting the company’s workforce needs.

“Workforce participation remains well below pre-pandemic levels. I’ve seen estimates that there are 1.7 million fewer workers compared to early 2020,” he says. “We at Waupaca Foundry in our rural communities, including Marinette and Waupaca, are no exception to that worker reduction. We went with the feeling that we must embrace all labor pools.”

Waupaca Foundry partners with community organizations, workforce agencies and local educational institutions to collaboratively provide English language classes, tuition reimbursement and relocation assistance to immigrant hires who have filled positions at all levels of the foundry’s operations.

“Specifically in roles [such as] machine operations, casting, grinding and finishing, and QC, their efforts help maintain smooth operations and their diverse perspectives really foster innovation and process improvement,” Kaminske says. “I think it’s the best of both worlds.”

An unexpected benefit has been the immigrant workforce’s preference for second shift, Kaminske says.

“Historically it’s harder to fill second shift, but we have actually seen a vast increase in not only willingness, but actually preference to go to second shift with some of our immigrant workforce,” he says. “There is a shift differential there and a lot of times it seems to work well with their family situation, so that has been a benefit.”

‘Failure is not an option’

Many employers are impressed by the work ethic and loyalty of their immigrant employees. Nicole Gerow, employment services manager at World Relief Fox Valley, says the data supports these observations.

In 2023, World Relief Fox Valley completed 134 job placements at more than 35 employers, two-thirds of which were manufacturing companies, Gerow estimates. Of those placements, 89% retained employment after 90 days and 87% retained employment after one year.

“Refugees are taught that a job is how you have a better life and, when you get to America, that’s the most important thing,” Gerow says. “Some have been waiting their whole life to have the opportunity to work. They’re super willing and eager to learn.”

Said Hassan is the executive director at COMSA, a refugee and immigrant resettlement agency serving Brown County. He says the life experiences of many immigrants play into their mentality on work.

“Most refugees and immigrants come to this country late in their lives, middle age or beyond. Failure is not an option for them,” he says. “Even though you think they don’t know English, there’s a lot they know that they can contribute to the workplace if they get trained. They will be the most valuable employees out there, and that needs to be tapped into.”

As the Trump administration enters the White House Jan. 20, many are anticipating changes to the U.S. immigration system that could disrupt industries reliant on immigrant labor.

Immigration was a key issue during the presidential election — and Trump’s first presidential term — with President-elect Trump proposing policies to set stricter requirements on H-1B and other employment visas, reduce asylum admissions and tighten border security. Gerow says World Relief only has new arrivals scheduled until Inauguration Day on Jan. 20 and that the organization anticipates its resettlement department, which works with refugees through their first 90 days in country, will all but go away.

“Our clients are wondering ‘Are we safe? Are we OK?,’” she says. “If they are refugees, they are [safe]. Some of the other statuses are possibly at risk. Some of our clients are pending for asylum, but they are not approved yet. They could possibly be considered when the Trump administration starts looking at people they want to deport.”

While Hassan says there is a “general sentiment of worry” among the immigrant community, he’s taking a wait-and-see approach.

“The only thing I think that is going to be a challenge is folks who are waiting for family reunifications. A husband waiting for his wife to join him, something like that may be delayed,” he says. “But as of right now, I think we’re waiting to see what’s going to happen.”

Success strategies

For employers considering hiring immigrant talent, Gerow says preparation and education are key.

“I don’t want it to look like roses and sunshine all the time, because it’s not. It’s hard to embrace something new and have a whole workforce get behind it,” she says. “It’s also an investment for an employer. If you’re wanting to hire a large group of people, you might also look at hiring an interpreter or putting in more hours for training and orientation or reworking processes.”

The U.S. immigration system is exceptionally complex. After navigating it on her own in the process of hiring Martinez, Marconi worked with an immigration attorney for HART Design’s second immigrant hire. She says it was a gamechanger.

“Immigration attorneys are very skilled, and they’ve seen just about every scenario out there,” she says. “If you can’t do it yourself, reach out and get that help.”

Language barriers, one of the most common challenges employers face, can be overcome with the use of technology and interpreters. Kaminske says Waupaca Foundry has had success with simply using Google Translate on smartphones.

“We’re also really looking into radio technology that would allow for person-to-person interaction on the floor as well,” he says.

Hilary Haskell, executive director of Hope and Help Together, says understanding the cultural norms of an employee’s home country can alleviate unnecessary conflict. How close an employee stands to another while talking or how rigidly they stick to a schedule can vary greatly by culture.

“Having an understanding of the home cultures of our employees doesn’t mean that we change what our standard is,” she says. “It means that we have an on-ramp and we know how to communicate what our expectations are because we understand how similar our preferences are or how far apart they are.”

Hope and Help Together, a refugee and immigrant task force formed by leaders of Trinity Lutheran Church in Appleton, recently launched a new initiative called The Fox Valley Newcomer Project. The project uses community mapping to discover opportunities and community partnerships that help meet the diverse needs of newcomers to the area — from immediate needs such as transportation, housing and employment to more complex systemic issues.

Haskell’s biggest piece of advice for employers is to keep an open mind and treat each hire as the unique individual they are.

“Rather than applying an ‘immigrant’ lens, these are all just people who live here,” she says. “They are part of our community and they are going to be part of our community for a very long time.”