Makenzie Huber, South Dakota Searchlight

LAKE NORDEN — The names on the list included some of Dorothy Elliott’s best employees: hardworking, reliable, honest.

Most had been working at Drumgoon Dairy for years. Some worked there for nearly two decades, playing a role in the operation’s expansion and success.

But after an audit of the dairy at the end of May by the federal Department of Homeland Security, 38 of those employees are gone.

The department said they each had inaccurate, outdated or incomplete proof of U.S. citizenship or permission to work in the country.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s eastern South Dakota home. Elliott asked the affected employees for updated documentation but ultimately had to fire those who weren’t able to adequately resolve the problems with their documents. One person returned home because his visa was expiring, and another quit.

The audit decimated Elliott’s workforce, once more than 50 employees, dropping it to just 16.

Audits at dairy farms under the Trump administration’s escalated immigration enforcement efforts have “created unrest” among workers and owners, Elliott said. It’s made for a tough summer in an industry that was flourishing after decades of support from state government.

Elliott’s remaining employees have been working without breaks, she said. Without a pathway or plan to create a sustainable workforce in agriculture and by “removing everyone working in it,” she worries some agricultural operations will go out of business. She hopes Drumgoon isn’t one of them.

“Basically, we’ve turned off the tap, but we’ve done nothing to create a solution as to how we find employees for the dairy industry,” she said.

Never previously audited

Elliott is required to file I-9 forms with documentation proving her workers’ identity and eligibility to work in the U.S. It puts employers in a difficult position, said Scott VanderWal, president of the South Dakota Farm Bureau, because applicants may present fraudulent documents an employer doesn’t catch. Yet employers could also be sued for mistakenly rejecting valid documents.

“If employers are presented with documentation that looks real and legitimate, they’re obligated to accept it,” VanderWal said. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offers similar guidance, saying employers must accept documentation if it “reasonably appears to be genuine.”

Elliott could use the federal government’s web-based system, E-Verify, that allows employers to confirm their employees’ eligibility to work in the country. But E-Verify is not mandated for new hires in South Dakota, and Elliott said she doesn’t use it because of “unreliable results.” Organizations ranging from the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute to the American Civil Liberties Union have opposed the use of E-Verify, citing reasons including errors that cost people jobs because the system wrongly flagged them.

So Elliott evaluates applicants’ documents herself. If their IDs are out of date or if they have a visa and are applying from another farm without returning home, she passes on hiring them. She’s turned people away a dozen times over the years, she said.

Drumgoon was never audited before. In her past dealings with the Department of Homeland Security during nearly two decades of running the dairy, Elliott said, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would merely tell her they were searching for a person and ask for a notification if the person applied for a job.

This time was different. After an audit, employers are required to terminate unauthorized workers who can’t prove their employability, according to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson. Audits — which are distinct from raids or other immigration enforcement operations — are meant to ensure businesses comply with federal employment laws.

Elliott does not know where her 38 former employees went. They could be working at other dairies in the U.S. They could have left the country. They could be anywhere.

Because the dairy is near a farm owned by Noem, the former governor of South Dakota, and because Noem was in the state during the month of the audit to receive an honorary degree, South Dakota Searchlight asked the Department of Homeland Security if Noem had a direct role in the audit. The department didn’t respond to the question.

Elliott declined to talk about Noem, saying she recognizes that federal immigration authorities “have a job to do.”

South Dakota Farmers Union President Doug Sombke called federal dairy audits “stupid,” because they needlessly displace workers.

“Why the heck can’t we continue to use them there as an intern or apprentice or whatever you want to call it and make it legal? Why is it so important we grab them and call them a criminal? No one wants those jobs,” Sombke said. “I don’t understand why you’d cripple or cause problems for a labor shortage when all you have to do is get them legalized.”

Immigrants hiring immigrants

Elliott’s connection to immigrants isn’t limited to her employees. She was born in the United States but married her husband, Rodney, in Northern Ireland, where they had their children.

Eliott worked in health care and her husband operated their 140-cow dairy farm in Northern Ireland when a newspaper ad, “Wanted: Dairy farmers in South Dakota,” caught their attention. Moving to America meant fewer regulations, cheaper land, cheaper feed and the ability to grow their business, she said.

The couple used the EB-5 investment-for-visa program to secure backers for their operation, opened the dairy in 2006, paid off the investors within a few years and have been expanding ever since. They started with about 1,500 cows in 2006 and have grown to 6,500.

Elliott’s children got their citizenship shortly after moving to the U.S., and her husband became a citizen about eight years after they moved. That experience helps her empathize with her workers, many of whom are Hispanic. She said everything they’re doing is to support their families back home, even though many aren’t able to see their families for years at a time.

“All they’re guilty of is working and doing a job that isn’t currently being filled by an American,” Elliott said.

Taneeza Islam advocates for immigrants as executive director of South Dakota Voices for Peace. She’s spoken to immigrant workers in other industries who were scared and confused after being terminated due to stricter immigration enforcement.

“We have two very separate worlds right now: the community that’s impacted and worried about getting detained and deported, and the community that doesn’t know this is happening here,” Islam said.

State recruited dairies

The Elliotts are among many new South Dakotans who’ve helped the dairy industry boom in the last two decades. Then-governor and now-U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, a Republican, focused on supporting the industry in the early 2000s, which included efforts to recruit farmers from overseas.

In 2010, South Dakota’s dairy industry had an economic impact of $1.27 billion. By 2023, that had grown to $5.67 billion.

“We’ve achieved our goals we set out for ourselves: build a dairy, milk cows and grow the dairy industry in South Dakota,” Elliott said. “Is it a sustainable goal if there’s nobody to work on these dairies? No. So all the time, money, effort, investment and hard work that has gone into it will be null and void if there isn’t a workforce.”

Sombke, the state Farmers Union president, said the state’s investment in dairy “has been a good thing,” but he isn’t surprised by the recent disruption in the industry.

South Dakota Searchlight requested the number of audits conducted in South Dakota so far in 2025, but a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the department “does not disclose specific data on audits or enforcement actions by state or industry.”

Sombke said dairy audits are “way up” in the state compared to last year. He said nobody should be surprised to find workers at dairies without permission to be in the country.

“What do you expect? The unemployment rate is less than 2% in the state,” Sombke said. “You’re going to be looking for labor anywhere you can find it.”

Aftermath of an audit

Drumgoon Dairy’s remaining employees have made mistakes because of the long hours they’ve had to cover — like reversing a payloader into a manure pond — or because they’re new to working on the farm.

“Some of them only get one or two days off in a 15-day period,” Elliott said. “But what else do you do? Do you just let cows starve or calves die because there’s no one there to take care of them?”

Some nearby farms sent workers to help at Drumgoon for a couple of days at a time this summer after the audit. Elliott and her husband have spent over $110,000 on recruiters and transportation so far to hire 22 visa workers from Mexico. But the visas come with restrictions on the types of jobs workers can do, so Elliott hired a dozen or so new employees locally, and still wants to hire another 10 to 15 people to replace terminated staff.

Elliott is struggling to find local applicants, which she is required by law to attempt before hiring visa workers.

“If raising wages even more will bring Americans to work on the farm, we can try it,” Elliott said, “but there is a limit to how high you can raise wages when you don’t get to set the price of milk. Can I afford to pay a milker $25 an hour? At some point, you’d produce milk for more than you’re receiving for it.”

Trump could lead immigration reforms, Thune says

After a panel discussion at the annual Dakotafest agricultural trade show in Mitchell in August, U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, told South Dakota Searchlight that he believes President Donald Trump is interested in legal immigration and work visa reforms.

“If we can find some willing partners in the Democrats, some sort of an immigration policy or a piece of legislation that we could pass is not outside the realm of possibility,” Thune said. “Ultimately, that’s the best long-term solution, and I’ve heard him talk about it.”

Sen. Rounds told Searchlight that as more people are deported and industries are disrupted, “we will get enough support from the administration to begin looking at a legal system again.”

Republican U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, who is running for South Dakota governor next year, said some visa programs should be modified to meet the needs of the dairy industry. Some visas are seasonal programs that require participants to return home after a few months. The programs don’t fit the needs of dairy operations that require workers year-round.

Elliott has broached the issue for years to Thune, Johnson, Rounds and other federal officials.

“All I hear is, ‘I’ll mention that. We’ll talk about that.’ But nothing,” Elliott said. “What we hear is there is absolutely no passion for any kind of change to the status quo.”

Farmers suggest solutions

Lynn Boadwine of Boadwine Farms in Baltic has “run out of gas” trying to advocate for visa and immigration policy changes to support the dairy industry. But he was heartened to hear the congressional delegates’ comments.

“There’s rhetoric, but are you really working on it?” Boadwine said. “I hope they are, because the clock is really ticking on all of these issues and we’re going to start to run out of people.”

Boadwine shared immigration reform ideas with congressional offices but hasn’t heard back on the topic. His hope is to modernize and simplify the H-2A visa program for dairies. His proposal would remove the seasonality requirement and allow workers in the country without legal permission to transition to guest-worker status. Long-term guest workers would have a path toward permanent residency by proving they are law-abiding, hardworking employees.

VanderWal, with the South Dakota Farm Bureau, said he met this spring with Noem in Washington, D.C., in his capacity as vice president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. He urged Noem and the Trump administration to back off on audits in the agricultural industry in hopes that Congress would “fix the system.”

“We wanted to impress upon the administration that if they started removing illegal workers up and down the food chain, from production to processing to transportation to grocery stores to restaurants, we’d see a disaster worse than the pandemic,” VanderWal said.

The administration has since “backed off ag,” VanderWal said, but the consequences linger for producers like the Elliotts and their employees. He said that unless President Trump “gets real forceful and goes after it,” he doesn’t expect Congress to undertake legal immigration reforms.

Economic consequence predicted

At Drumgoon Dairy, Elliott has tried automating aspects of her operation. She and her husband put in 20 robots a few years ago with the expectation they could hire students from nearby Lake Area Technical College’s robotics program to maintain them.

They posted robotics maintenance positions to attract graduates, but the response was deflating.

“To date, no one,” Elliott said.

She plans to remove the robots because the cost of running and servicing them is too expensive. So far, they’ve sold three. If the cost of technology continues to be prohibitive or there aren’t reforms to workforce visa or immigration programs, she said, “I wonder how we will become a sustainable industry.”

Elliott fears there will be consequences and higher prices for milk and other consumer dairy products without action at the federal level. Boadwine agreed.

“If we keep down this road we’ll have no choice but to import more food,” Boadwine said, “and the reason we’d import more is because it’s gotten so much more expensive here because we crippled ourselves.”

Tyler Broghammer leaves his office nearly every day armed with a small blue cooler.

Inside is a weapon against South Dakota’s syphilis epidemic: syringes of penicillin. The sexually transmitted infection case manager at Oyate Health Center in Rapid City also carries rapid STI tests and condoms on his near daily drive around town, meeting with people he’s learned may have the disease.

Broghammer is one of two STI case managers at Oyate Health finding and treating people who have syphilis. The organization is one of several working to address the epidemic in South Dakota through collaborative partnerships.

COVID-19 ‘completely overwhelmed’ screening

Syphilis is a bacterial infection most often spread through sex that can be cured, but can cause serious health problems without treatment and can be spread from mothers to unborn babies.

South Dakota experienced a 2,493% increase in adult syphilis cases from the five-year median in 2022, according to the state Department of Health, with 1,504 cases reported — the highest rate of syphilis cases in the country at the time. That was a 90% increase from 2021.

The number of syphilis cases in the state dropped in 2023 to 1,374 cases, according to the state’s infectious disease dashboard.

Syphilis cases are down by 335 cases in the first quarter of this year compared to 2023, according to a state Department of Health spokesperson.

The state had the second highest rate of congenital syphilis in the country in 2022 with 40 cases, which is 351.8 cases per 100,000 births, and was a 150% year-over-year increase. The state saw a 1,233% increase in congenital syphilis among infants from the five-year median in 2022.

The state reported 54 congenital syphilis cases in 2023 and 18 through April of that year. So far this year, there have been nine reported cases.

A cooler is filled with doses of penicillin on April 24, 2024, at the Oyate Health Center in Rapid City. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)

Syphilis was close to being eradicated in the United States in the 1990s, but cases in South Dakota were increasing in the years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Syphilis infections nationwide have climbed rapidly in recent years, reaching a 70-year high in 2022, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That rise comes amid a shortage of penicillin, the most effective treatment, due to the nationwide increase in syphilis cases. The shortage is predicted to last until the end of this year.

Hospitals were overwhelmed with treating the coronavirus in 2020 and 2021 and patients were hesitant to get screened or treated for STIs, said Meghan Curry O’Connell, a member of the Cherokee Nation and chief public health officer at the Great Plains Tribal Leaders’ Health Board in Rapid City.

“The whole system we have to make sure people are screened and treated for STIs was completely overwhelmed by COVID, like everything else,” said Curry O’Connell, who is a family physician by training. “Particularly in South Dakota, added challenges included difficulty in accessing care in very rural areas, which compounded the impacts of the pandemic.”

Native American communities hit hardest

Native American communities have been hit the hardest by the epidemic in South Dakota and nationally. About 90% of congenital syphilis cases in South Dakota are among Indigenous babies, according to the state Health Department.

Syphilis causes a range of symptoms, including rashes, sores and hair loss. But if the disease isn’t treated, symptoms may go away even though the infection remains, making it a prolific spreader unless sexually active people are educated on the disease, practice safe sex and are regularly tested, Curry O’Connell said.

The disease can potentially persist for decades if untreated, which can lead to death. If pregnant people are infected, it poses a dangerous risk to their baby; congenital syphilis can cause bone deformities, severe anemia, jaundice, meningitis and even death. In 2022, the CDC recorded 231 stillbirths and 51 infant deaths caused by syphilis nationally, out of 3,761 congenital syphilis cases reported that year.

The Great Plains Tribal Leaders’ Health Board and tribal leaders from North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa have asked the federal Department of Health and Human Services to declare a public health emergency in their states. A declaration would expand staffing, funding, and access to contact tracing data across their region.

“It’s important to get treated, because we want to prevent any of those outcomes, and it’s just so easy for people to do,” Curry O’Connell said. “Most people just need one shot of penicillin if newly infected.”

The rate of congenital syphilis infections among Native Americans ( 644.7 cases per 100,000 people in 2022) is comparable to what the rate for the entire U.S. population was in 1941 (651.1) before doctors began using penicillin to cure syphilis, according to KFF Health News.

The risk is especially high for people with limited access to health care.

“If you’re putting off care or don’t have a regular relationship with a doctor, those people are more likely to go untreated,” Curry O’Connell said. “For whatever reason or barrier — if a person can’t get time off of work, they have a distance to travel, they don’t have immediate transportation or anything — it could end up that the symptom goes away.”

How SD entities are addressing the epidemic

Broghammer’s position is funded by a grant from the Indian Health Service. His “boots on the ground” method is the most effective way to treat patients, though it’s also a “grind,” Broghammer said.

Whether due to homelessness, financial or privacy concerns, many patients struggle to find their way to Oyate Health on the west side of Rapid City, Broghammer said. He’ll meet patients anywhere: their home, hotels or even in parking lots.

“Some days I’ll get five to six phone calls reaching out to us, which is great. Other days we’re picking up the phone and trying to locate people but might not find anybody,” Broghammer said. “It’s not just as simple as a phone call and meeting with them. We have a decent sized population of houseless relatives where it’s difficult to find them — no phone or address. Sometimes we literally have nothing to go off of.”

Some other health care systems will test for syphilis but won’t go to the patient’s location.

“Underlying all of this is it’s very resource intensive, especially in rural areas,” Curry O’Connell said. “However, there’s not anything we know of yet that can replace it. Boots on the ground, going out to talk to people, giving testing and doing what needs to be done is just basic public health work, and there’s nothing else that really works better.”

Some tribes and Indian Health Service locations are also sending nurses across South Dakota reservations to find and treat people. The state Department of Health plans to launch its Wellness on Wheels program in May, with five vans traveling across the state to provide basic health care to rural communities — including STI testing, treatment, education, counseling and referrals to community resources.

The vans will also provide pregnancy care services, safe sleep guidance and developmental screening for children, WIC services, maternal depression screening, immunizations and oral health.

“We hope to use these vans several times a week to reach clients who might not have access to one of our physical locations,” said Tia Kafke, media spokesperson for the department, in an emailed statement. “The vans will operate in the winter as much as possible, weather permitting.”

The state, tribes and tribal health board have monthly meetings about syphilis, Curry O’Connell said. IHS recommends every patient age 16 and older be screened for syphilis at least once a year. Pregnant patients should be screened three times during their pregnancy.

Broghammer often receives calls from the state Department of Health with leads on people who tested positive for syphilis.

“They save me time and energy, so I know they’re working their tails off,” Broghammer said.

The state department started piloting a rapid testing partnership with a health care provider in Mission, on the Rosebud Reservation, in December. Fifty patients were tested in the first three months with eight testing positive and being treated for the disease.

The move to rapid testing is an important development, professionals agree, because patients are able to be treated immediately rather than days or weeks later when results come in from laboratories. The department has seven normal testing centers across the state.

The number of syphilis cases in South Dakota has decreased since it peaked in 2022, though it’s still at epidemic levels. Congenital syphilis is only prevented by treating pregnant females. The number of congenital syphilis cases in South Dakota increased from 2022 to 2023.

Prenatal care, intervention key to addressing congenital syphilis

Though Broghammer sees the collaborations’ effect, he said there could be more entities working together in the state to put more boots on the ground.

Curry O’Connell said more effort is needed to test pregnant patients who aren’t receiving prenatal care. Nearly one-third of congenital syphilis cases in the first half of 2023 did not receive prenatal care, according to the state.

Most women still will interact with the health care system at some point during their pregnancy, even if they don’t receive prenatal care. They should be screened with a rapid test at that point, Curry O’Connell said.

“If someone goes into urgent care or goes in for something that’s not even pregnancy related, that would be a place to start, because a lot of women will receive some sort of care during pregnancy,” Curry O’Connell said. “It’s trying to maximize the screening potential of those visits that’s important.”

Education, Broghammer said, is an important tool.

“I think the biggest thing is to just get checked,” Broghammer said. “If you’re sexually active, be safe: get screened and get checked. Be mindful of your partners and safe sex practices.”

South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. South Dakota Searchlight maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seth Tupper for questions: info@southdakotasearchlight.com. Follow South Dakota Searchlight on Facebook and Twitter.

Smile Texas isn’t the only business South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is promoting to her social media followers.

The second-term governor promoted two other South Dakota businesses on her personal X feed (formerly Twitter) on Thursday: Fit My Feet in Rapid City, owned by state Department of Public Safety Secretary Bob Perry’s son, and Common Grounds, a Spearfish coffee shop where she hosted her latest town hall this week.

“They are my favorite. This coffee shop is amazing. You have to come in,” Noem said in the 22-second video clip at Common Grounds. “Bryon and I come in all the time. You will enjoy it. They love America and that is a special gift to me and a pep talk to this country. They are the backbone of South Dakota. Come visit them: Common Grounds in Spearfish, South Dakota.”

Some elected officials regularly post photos and videos of their interactions with constituents or businesses. In the age of social media, it’s a strategy to show they’re engaged with their base and are listening to their concerns.

South Dakota’s U.S. Sens. Mike Rounds and John Thune and U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson post about their visits, industry tours and roundtable discussions online. Sometimes they’ll compliment a local restaurant for a meal on the road. One of Thune’s latest shoutouts regarded the “legendary” hot beef sandwiches at Al’s Oasis after posing next to a taxidermy bison named Al.

But a review of their X posts over the last 10 months showed they didn’t tell their followers to visit those establishments or buy a product — or in other words, influence them.

Noem did several times this week on social media, and has in the past as well, including suggesting that her followers buy a motorcycle from Black Hills Harley-Davidson.

Consumer advocacy group sues Noem over her Texas tooth promo video

That crosses an ethical line, said Michael Card, associate professor emeritus of political science at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.

“It changes other people’s behavior, or could change their behavior, which is why the label of ‘social media influencer’ is such a fraught place to be for an elected official,” Card said. “… If you’re a state official you just shouldn’t be doing that.”

Noem received national attention for posting and participating in a five-minute video endorsing a Texas dental office where she received treatment. The Monday post sparked calls for investigation by some state lawmakers and a lawsuit by a Washington, D.C., based consumer advocacy group.

The lawsuit from Travelers United alleges Noem violated a D.C. law. That law requires social media influencers to disclose whether they received payment or free or discounted services in exchange for their endorsement. The group says D.C. has jurisdiction because residents of the district can view Noem’s posts.

The Legislature’s Government Operations and Audit Committee isn’t planning to investigate the video further, according to reporting by The Dakota Scout.

The legislative Executive Board doesn’t plan to review her conduct either, said chairman of the board and Senate President Pro Tempore Lee Schoenbeck, R-Watertown. It’s an ethical question because “somebody used poor judgment,” he said, but it doesn’t call for disciplinary action.

Neither does the state need further ethics laws, he added, saying it’s “clear Noem is done running for office in South Dakota” based on the dental video. Presidential candidate Donald Trump has confirmed that he’s considering Noem as his running mate.

“I think ballot boxes are about bad judgment,” Schoenbeck said. “We have laws for embezzlement, theft, misuse of state resources. We don’t need any more laws. People just need to take elections seriously.”

But if Noem was any other civil servant, Card said, she would likely be disciplined for the posts even if she wasn’t compensated for them. The practice – especially the Texas dentistry video – “reflects unfavorably” on the state and challenges people’s confidence in the Governor’s Office, Card said.

But she isn’t subject to career service rules.

“It begs the question, if the boss can do this, why can’t I?” Card said. “If you’re acting in a manner that could be perceived as detrimental to the state, you’re setting others up to do the same thing. Should we be engaging in conduct that causes people to think less of state government, that the governor is a social media influencer trying to get people to look at other people’s businesses?”

Noem’s office has not disclosed if she received compensation, discounted services, or other benefits from posting any of the videos. Her spokesman, Ian Fury, did not respond to messages Friday from South Dakota Searchlight.

Dan Ahlers, executive director of the South Dakota Democratic Party, said the nationwide ethics discussion spurred by Noem is evidence that South Dakota legislators should revise the state’s ethics laws.

“I think we should have some kind of code of conduct for publicly elected officials,” Ahlers said. “The fact is we don’t have a line.”

South Dakota scored an “F” in the last state integrity investigation by the Center for Public Integrity in 2015. The investigation gauged the strength of the state’s anti-corruption laws.

South Dakota voters passed the anti-corruption Initiated Measure 22 in 2016, but the law was partially dismantled by the Legislature. The state’s Government Accountability Board, which is made up of retired judges, was established instead to review misconduct allegations for statewide offices and executive branch employees. The board could investigate Noem’s conduct if there is an official complaint submitted.

Card said the state would benefit from an independent review of the behavior, without disciplinary authority.

At the very least, the governor should stop promoting specific businesses and disclose if she received a discount or payment for any of the videos she posts encouraging her followers to do business at certain locations, Card said. If she is being compensated in any way to be an influencer, then that distracts her from her job as governor, both Ahlers and Schoenbeck added.

“If you’re receiving benefits because of that,” Card said, “that’s a complete other step. That’s a hard line, the hard red line. If you step over that line, there should be no doubt that’s an ethical violation.”

South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. South Dakota Searchlight maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seth Tupper for questions: info@southdakotasearchlight.com. Follow South Dakota Searchlight on Facebook and Twitter.