Vermont dairy farm migrant ICE raids put industry on edge

On April 21, he and seven colleagues at the Fairmont Albanian farm were arrested in what the defenders say is one of the largest immigration raids in the state.

He said in an interview with him recently: “I saw through the window of the house that the migration was already present, inside the farm, when we were detained.” “I was in the phase of asylum, and even though, he did not respect the document that I was still carrying in my hands.”

Four workers were quickly deported to Mexico. Molina-Aguilar, which was released a month later at a detention center in Texas with a state of asylum that is still suspended, is now working on a different farm and speaking.

“We must fight as a society so that we can all obtain the rights we have in this country, and continue to fight for it in this country,” he said.

The target farm owner refused to comment. But Brett Stock, the lawyer who represents the detained workers, said that the raid sent shock waves through the entire northeastern agriculture industry.

“These are the strong tactics of the armed that we see and these increases in implementation, whether legal or not, all play a role in fueling fear in society,” said Stoxus, director of the Justice Reform Center Clinic in the Vermont State in the law and the Graduate School.

This fear remains in view of mixed messages coming from the White House. president Donald Trump, who carried out a promise to deport millions of immigrants working in the United States illegally, stopped the arrests last month on farms, restaurants and hotels. But after less than a week, the Assistant Minister of Internal Security said that the application site will continue.

This causes uncertainty in large states such as California, as farms produce more than three quarters of the country and more than a third of their vegetables. But it also affects small cases such as Vermont, where dairy is part of the state’s identity like the famous maple syrup.

Nearly two -thirds of all milk production in New England comes from Vermont, dedicating more than half of the state’s agricultural lands for dairy and dairy crops. There are approximately 113,000 cows and 7,500 goats scattered in 480 farms, according to Vermont Agriculture, Food and Markets Agency, which is suitable for the annual economic impact of the industry at $ 5.4 billion.

This effect has doubled more than twice in the past decade, with wide help from migrant work. More than 90 % of the farms included in the poll of the last report of the Agency working in immigrants.

Among them is Windy Bernardo, who lived on the Fairmont Albanian farm for more than a decade and has an active request to prevent her from being deported on humanitarian foundations: Bernardo is the primary care provider of her five children and her younger sisters, according to the letter 2023 signed to buy it in the state engine.

Hundreds of Bernardo supporters have appeared for the latest checkpoint with immigration officials.

“It is really difficult because every time I came here, I don’t know whether I will return to my family or not,” she said after she was asked to return within a month.

Like the Molina-Agillar, Rossy Alfaro also worked for 12 hours with one day a week at the Fairmont farm. She now said that the dairy industry will collapse without migrant workers.

She said, “Everything will decrease.” “There are many people who work for long hours, without a complaint, without being able to say,” I don’t want to work. “They are only doing the job.”