A Milwaukee city council member has called for an investigation into the immigration policies at Uline, the office supply company owned by Liz and Richard Uihlein, two of the biggest donors to Maga Republicans in the 2024 election.
The statement by JoCasta Zamarripa, who is running for the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin secretary of state ahead of November’s election, follows an investigation by the Guardian into Uline’s previous use of a so-called “shuttle program”. It involved the company bringing workers from its facilities in Mexico to staff warehouses at its headquarters in Wisconsin, Florida and Pennsylvania, for weeks and even months at a time, using visas that are meant for workers who are being trained – not working regular full-time jobs.
Uline is privately held but is estimated to generate $8bn in revenues per year, and employs about 9,000 people.
“Billionaires fund the crackdown, then exploit the very people targeted by it –because they think money shields them from consequences,” Zamarripa wrote on a post of Facebook. “Wisconsin needs transparency, a real investigation, and accountability that applies to everyone.”
Uline declined to comment on Zamarripa’s remarks. The company has previously declined to comment on detailed questions about the shuttle program, which sources with knowledge of the matter said was abruptly halted in late 2024, when the Guardian first reported on the practice.
A story published by the Guardian earlier this month featured an interview with one Mexican worker, Christian Valenzuela, who came forward to share his previous experience in the shuttle program, including how he was injured while working in Wisconsin, sent back to Mexico and ultimately lost his job.
“We were just going to work,” he said. “They always gave us more work, because we were stronger workers. Because the Americans perhaps work at their own pace, going little by little. Whereas we Mexicans are faster, more productive, more everything.”
Zamarripa did not respond to a request for an interview. She told the Wisconsin Examiner, the first newspaper to report on her statement, that she would call on state officials to investigate the company’s practices and potential legal violations.
“The billionaire Uihlein family – among the biggest Republican mega-donors in the nation – have helped bankroll the very politicians, including Donald Trump, behind today’s out-of-control immigration crackdowns,” she wrote in her Facebook statement, which is dedicated to her campaign.
“Now we learn that workers in Pleasant Prairie say Mexican employees were pushed into dangerous, exhausting conditions and punished for speaking up – all while fueling Uline’s enormous wealth,” Zamarripa wrote.
Zamarripa is a former Wisconsin state representative from Milwaukee and now represents a South Side district in the Milwaukee city council. She has declared her intention to seek the Democratic nomination to run for Wisconsin secretary of state ahead of the primary election in August.
The Uihleins have continued to serve as major donors to the Republican party. The couple donated a total of $1m in the first six months of 2025 to a Wisconsin college Republicans group called the Wisconsin Federation of College Republicans, according to a report by Wisconsin Public Radio.
The president of the college fund, Nick Jacobs, previously received $1m from Elon Musk. The group has endorsed Tom Tiffany, a US congressman, for the Republican nomination for governor. He was also endorsed by Trump, a move that prompted Josh Schoemann, another early candidate for the Republican nomination, to step down from the race.
The Guardian
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