Congressman Peter Welch (D-VT) has added his voice to the chorus calling on President Obama to end the controversial immigration-enforcement initiative known as Secure Communities.
Last Thursday, Welch signed a letter penned by U.S. Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY) calling on the president to "immediately stop" the enforcement program, which compares fingerprints of people arrested by local police to a federal immigration database to look for deportable aliens.
"Secure Communities sows mistrust of the police and other uniformed personnel, thereby making our communities less safe," reads the letter. "The broad scope of the program means that immigrants, both documented and undocumented, are afraid to cooperate with police officers, because doing so may lead to deportation of themselves or their families."
Welch could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but spokesman Scott Coriell tells Seven Days that the congressman "continues to be frustrated that Congress has not enacted comprehensive immigration reform that creates a fair path to citizenship for law-abiding undocumented immigrants, including a guest-worker program that establishes clear guidelines for farmers and their employees"
The letter to Obama was signed by 32 members of Congress, including Welch. (Click here to download the letter to Obama, and the letter Rep. Serrano sent to his colleagues.)
The Obama administration's stated goal of Secure Communities was catching and deporting dangerous, criminal aliens who might otherwise go undetected. But the program has come under fire for sweeping up large numbers of minor offenders and separating families. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initially said the program was optional, and several states — including New York, Illinois and Massachusetts — signed memoranda with the feds to opt out, or publicly declared they would not participate.
In Vermont, the VT Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project lobbied Gov. Peter Shumlin to opt out of the program, but before he made a decision, the Obama administration declared the program was mandatory and would be implemented nationwide by 2013.
In September, a Washington, D.C., task force charged with recommending fixes for Secure Communities found that DHS gave "incorrect or incomplete" information to jurisdictions who would implement the program. The report also said S-Comm, as the program is known, could have an "unintended negative impact" on communities by making immigrants fearful of calling police.
"The recently released report of the task force established by DHS to review Secure Communities has led us to conclude that the program must immediately be terminated," reads the letter signed by Welch.
It goes on:
"This program of wholesale removal hurts our communities by funneling immigrants into an unjust deportation system that fails to offer due process protections. When detained, individuals are not afforded a right to counsel and are often transferred to remote locations for detention, which severely limits their access to resources to help them fight their cases. This patently unfair system needs to be seriously reformed, not expanded through fatally flawed programs like Secure Communities."
Whether the letter has any impact remains to be seen. But Welch's support for repeal represents another victory for the VT Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project, which represents the interests of the hundreds of farmworkers — both legal and illegal — employed on Vermont dairy farms. Last month, the VTMFSP successfully lobbied the Shumlin administration to adopt a "don't ask, don't tell" approach to enforcing immigration laws by Vermont State Police. The policy directs state troopers not to ask suspected undocumented immigrants for papers unless there is evidence of another crime.
Danilo Lopez (pictured) is an undocumented farmworker from Mexico who was detained by U.S. Border Patrol following a routine traffic stop on I-89 in September. He reacted to Welch's letter signing in a statement released by the VTMFSP.
"We are thrilled with Congressman Welch's decision to stand against ICE's (in)Secure Communities program that, in practice, makes police do the jobs of immigrant agents. Obama has deported over 1 million hardworking people whose supposed 'crime' is to work hard to feed their families. He's broken promise after promise to our communities. But, we've seen a lot of change on this issue in Vermont in a little time and thank Vermonters, Governor Shumlin, and Peter Welch for standing with us."
Charles Steck Photo
Gov. Peter Shumlin and the Department of Public Safety announced a new policy today that effectively prohibits Vermont State Police from asking suspected illegal immigrants for papers unless they are suspected of another crime.
According to a press release, the new policy states that "Vermont State Police troopers should not try to identify people whose only suspected violation is that they are present in the United States without proper documentation, but also makes clear that officers should continue to investigate suspected criminal activity."
Previously, the state police's "bias-free" policy barred troopers from asking about immigration status only when a suspected immigrant was a crime victim or witness. Vermont’s dairy farms are heavily dependent on migrant labor; several thousand Latino workers are employed in Vermont dairies, legally and illegally.
Shumlin launched a review of state policy in September after two undocumented migrant farm workers, one of them an outspoken activist, were detained by state police during a traffic stop and turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol. The governor took heat from Republicans when he said afterward that Vermont's policy on immigration enforcement amounted to "look the other way."
The new policy was authored by Shumlin's former legal counsel Beth Robinson, who the governor recently appointed to the Vermont Supreme Court.
Click here to read Shumlin's press release. Click here to download the policy.
Shumlin's press release quotes Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn saying the policy will "ensure the fair and equal treatment of all individuals in Vermont." Attorney General William Sorrell, who has urged all Vermont police departments to adopt a policy akin to Shumlin's new one, said, "This is good news. Now I hope more Vermont police departments will adopt bias-free policies that emphasize their primary role of enforcing Vermont criminal laws."
The new policy includes "special provisions" for law enforcement operating near the Canadian border, allowing them to take action relating to "unlawful border crossings in progress, as well as to call for support from federal authorities when required to protect officer or public safety," the press release says.
Click here to read about a Franklin County dairy farmer near the Canadian border whose migrant workers were removed earlier this year after one them accidentally dialed 911.
The VT Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project, which launched a sustained lobbying effort to get the policy changed, welcomed the new policy as a "big step forward" but then expressed some fears about it.
"The policy has a number of exceptions to when police can ask about immigration status and engage in immigration enforcement," said Solidarity Project spokesperson Natalia Fajardo.
A Franklin County dairy farmer whose migrant workers were removed by the U.S. Border Patrol earlier this year is speaking out about the incident, and about why he hired Hispanic workers to milk his cows.
Chris Wagner (pictured) and his wife own a 300-cow dairy in the town of Franklin, where he's employed Hispanic workers off and on for the past 10 years. On January 7, 2011, one of his workers was trying to call Mexico and mistakenly dialed 911 instead of 011 (to place an international call.)
When the dispatcher asked the nature of the emergency, the worker allegedly said, "No speak English" and hung up. That 911 hangup triggered a response from the Vermont State Police, who sent two cruisers to the farm. State police, in turn, called the U.S. Border Patrol to come and "act as an interpreter." A short while later, three migrant farmworkers were in federal custody and Wagner was handcuffed in the back of a cruiser.
Wagner says he's speaking out now to clear up what he has long felt are mischaracterizations in the official police report. He also felt prompted by the recent, high-profile detention of a migrant farmworker leader and the debate it sparked over immigration enforcement and migrant labor in Vermont.
"They're excellent workers, very strong work ethic in comparison to some of the local help," Wagner says of his migrant laborers. "Which is unfortunate because there's so many people that need work and these jobs are available. But there aren't that many people who seem willing to put the effort into some of these highly intensive ag jobs."
The official police account of the January 7 incident differs from Wagner's recollection in some key ways. Vermont State Police Capt. Daniel Troidl describes the incident in an email he sent to the Vermont Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project.
The police report states that after the first hangup, the police dispatcher called the number back to assess whether there was an emergency. The male who answered again said, "No speak English," and hung up. From Troidl's report:
Troopers Metayer and Hurwitch were dispatched to this 911 hang-up call. After being told that dispatch had called the number back and that the subject who answered did not speak English, they contacted Border Patrol and requested assistance from an Agent to act as an interpreter. Two Border Patrol Agents responded and accompanied the Troopers to the residence.
Here's where the versions differ. State police say that Wagner drove by in his pickup truck, "pulled into the driveway and stopped sideways in an apparent attempt to prevent the Troopers and Border Patrol from responding to the scene. ...Trooper Metayer told him that they still needed to respond to insure that everyone was safe and he attempted to continue to the residence. [Wagner] ran in front of Trooper Metayer's EQ, blocking his path and forcing him to stop. [Wagner] was subsequently handcuffed and placed in the EQ so that Troopers could continue with their response."
Wagner maintains he did not block the driveway.
"The driveway is 50 feet wide and I was parked on the side of it," Wagner says. "I didn't stop their vehicles from going up."
Wagner continues:
"I was panicking, I think, in terms of knowing it looked like they really had an agenda to raid my place. So I started walking ahead of the cruiser. I broke into a trot. [The trooper] got out. His exact words were, 'We'll have none of these fuck, fuck games.' I was pretty much speechless. They put me in the back of the cruiser. I gave them no interference. Then we drove to the dairy barn where they proceeded to file out several employees who lived in the apartment, checked their documents and decided they were not legal."
Wagner was released without being charged and hasn't heard from the three farmworkers since.
"It's a hard thing not to employ these people even though you understand some of the complicated immigration issues," Wagner says. "They come with their own paperwork, but it's not easy as an employer to ascertain whether they're legal." Many workers present Social Security cards or legal resident alien cards, he says, which the farm uses to fill out an I-9 form for each worker.
Wagner stresses that he pays his milkers $9 an hour, plus housing, which he says is "way beyond minimum wage." So it's not about exploiting cheap labor, he says. He's hired plenty of locals over the years, some of whom were great employees and others who couldn't hack the 24/7 nature of dairy farming, Wagner says.
"I have a lot of mixed feelings about how native help competes with [migrant workers'] ability to work and desire to work," Wagner says. "I have a hard time having sympathy with some of the folks who are unemployed because they haven't sought employment the way these guys do. That's not a general statement. I think people out of work need all the help they can get."
With migrant workers, Wagner adds, "the biggest complaint I receive from them is not getting enough hours."
The Vermont Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project contends that calling Border Patrol to act as interpreter was a questionable move by state police and undermines trust between migrant communities and law enforcement.
In an email to Troidl about the incident, the Solidarity Project's Brendan O'Neill wrote: "If the result of State Police collaboration with the Border Patrol (whether as interpreter or in another capacity) results in the deportation of immigrants than [sic] the message sent to the immigrant community through this incident, and believe me the word spreads fast, is if you call 911 the border patrol comes and gets you deported."
Troidl wrote to O'Neill that based on his review of the incident, "the Troopers contacted Border Patrol for the sole purpose of assisting as an interpreter so that they could property render assistance if needed. At the time they responded, the Troopers did not know the immigration status of the individual(s) who had answered the return call from dispatch."
Troidl went on: "While the outcome of this incident is unfortunate for the individuals taken into custody by Border Patrol, the Troopers acted in a reasonable manner with public safety being the number one priority. I found nothing to indicate that either of the Troopers involved acted inappropriately or violated our Bias-Free Policing Policy."
The two undocumented farm workers turned over to the federal immigration authorities by the Vermont State Police last week have filed a racial profiling complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission, asserting that the state trooper's suspicion was based solely on the color of their skin.
Danilo Lopez (pictured in hat) and Antonio Meza-Sandoval, both from Mexico, were detained following a traffic stop on I-89 in Middlesex on September 13, when a car in which they were passengers was pulled over for going 88 mph. On Monday, they filed a formal complaint at the Human Rights Commission offices.
"We are hopeful that this process will confirm that what happened was discriminatory so that it won't happen again to anyone in Vermont," Lopez said in a statement. "We also hope that the State will take measures to improve its Bias-Free-Policing policy and clearly direct police to not discriminate based on suspected immigration status."
The complaint follows public release of the police video (above) from the cruiser that stopped the car the farm workers were riding in. After viewing the 35-minute video, Lopez said he "re-lived the officer's pressure. He focused immediately on us upon approaching the vehicle. He threatened me with one last chance to speak up 'or else,' even though I wanted to remain silent."
Also, state Rep. Kesha Ram (D-Burlington) is wading into the controversy, saying in a statement released by the Vermont Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project that, "Upon watching clips of the detention of Danilo and Antonio, I am deeply concerned as both a state legislator and a person of color. We cannot reasonably enforce broken federal immigration policies in our state that are disconnected from the reality of our agricultural needs and practices. This incident strengthens my resolve to end racial profiling in Vermont, and I look forward to working with Governor Shumlin to that end."
The Solidarity Project believes that since the farm workers exhibited no suspicious behavior and there were no suspicious items in the car, the officer based his questioning and handling of the situation solely on the farm workers' appearance.
"I am convinced that if the passengers had been blue-eyed and blond, the State trooper would have engaged them differently," said Natalia Fajardo (pictured), an organizer with the Solidarity Project. "This confirms to me that today, in Vermont, being brown constitutes suspicious conduct in the eyes of the police."
Gov. Peter Shumlin has ordered an investigation of the traffic stop to determine whether it violated the state police's "bias free policing" policy, a probe being conducted by the state police. On Monday, Lopez and Meza-Sandoval were interviewed as part of that investigation by state police Capt. Timothy Clouatre. Afterwards, the Solidarity Project called for an independent review of the stop with oversight by "leaders from Vermont's diverse communities of color who are most affected by racial profiling."
Lopez (pictured below in hat) has been an outspoken leader of the Vermont Farmworker Solidarity Project. Weeks before his arrest, he hand-delivered a petition signed by 70 migrant farmworkers to Gov. Peter Shumlin, asking him to take a stand against a controversial federal immigrantion enforcement program known as Secure Communities.
The police video of the stop shows Trooper Jared Hatch approaching the car and first asking the driver, a U.S. citizen from Randolph Center, "Where you headed?"
"Charolotte," the driver replies.
"What's up there for you?" the trooper asks.
"Work," the driver replies.
Later, the trooper can be heard asking, "You folks related?" and "What country are you from?", to which the farm workers answered "Mexico." When the trooper asked, "Be straight with me. You're legal to be in the United States right now?", the farmworkers answered no.
Later in the video, when the driver apparently challenges the trooper's right to question his passengers, Hatch responds, "I can talk to anyone in the vehicle I want to. Part of my job is to determine [whether they are here illegally.] If I let them go down the road and they weren't good kids — something bad happened, then what?"
Photo of Natalia Fajardo by Matthew Thorsen.
Gov. Peter Shumlin has added fuel to the fire over this week's bust of undocumented migrant farm workers by the Vermont State Police.
In an interview with WPTZ-TV's Stewart Ledbetter yesterday, Shumlin said Vermont should "look the other way" when it comes to dealing with immigrants working illegally on Vermont farms. "We have always had a policy in Vermont where we kind of look the other way as much as we can," Shumlin told WPTZ. "I just want to make sure that's what's we're doing. [Vermont farms] can't survive without workers from outside America. It's just the way it is. "
On Tuesday, two farm workers from Mexico — one of them an outspoken activist — were turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol after state police stopped a car in which they were passengers for speeding. Members of the Vermont Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project branded the incident "racial profiling" and formed a human chain to block the border patrol SUVs from driving off with the farm workers — leading to the arrest of three protesters. (Clip below, full video here).
Shumlin ordered an investigation of the incident on Tuesday to determine whether the traffic stop violated with the state police's "bias-free policing policy."
Not surprisingly, the Vermont Republican Party pounced on the gov's "look the other way" comment — after first explaining why Shumlin was partially correct.
"The governor may be correct that there is a need for foreign workers on many Vermont farms, just as there is a need for foreign workers in many of our resort towns," GOP chairwoman Pat McDonald said in a statement issued Friday afternoon. "But Gov. Shumlin's comments that the policy of the State Police should be to 'look the other way' in some cases is completely irresponsible of any elected leader. "
What do McDonald and the Vermont GOP think Shumlin should be doing about the problem?
"Rather than turning a blind eye to laws he doesn't like, Gov. Shumlin should be working with our congressional delegation, as former Gov. Douglas and Sen. Leahy did, towards finding legal solutions that would make every foreign worker in Vermont compliant with federal law, and that wouldn't result in a depression of wages for those foreign workers that are in Vermont legally," McDonald's statement read.
"The hardworking officers of the Vermont State Police took an oath to uphold the law," the GOP statement went on. "The governor's new policy of 'look the other way' may sound good to those that support illegal immigration, but it is not the appropriate guidance a sitting governor should be giving to Vermont's law enforcement community."
(Video: Protesters from the VT Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project being arrested for impeding the Border Patrol vehicles).
The WPTZ interview with Shumlin ends with the governor asking: "My question is this: Do we have a clear policy that we give our law enforcement folks?"
The answer depends on which police agency you're talking about.
Police departments in several Vermont towns with immigrant populations have adopted policies that amount to "look the other way" when it comes to enforcing immigration law — notably Burlington, Winooski and Middlebury. Last fall, Vermont's top law enforcer, Attorney General Bill Sorrell, proposed a policy that urges every police agency in the state to adopt a "don't ask, don't tell" approach to the issue. Other police departments have no bias-free policies on the books.
Vermont State Police's bias-free policing policy, obtained Friday by Seven Days, is four pages long — and offers general guidelines but few specific instructions. The first two pages explain what a trooper is supposed to do if someone calls with a complaint that is solely based on someone's race, gender, immigration status or other "personal criteria." According to the policy, state police should first explore whether there are any "behaviors" that call for police response. The trooper should then contact a shift supervisor, who will call the complainant and explain that, barring evidence of criminal conduct, state police do not investigate individuals solely based on these personal criteria.
The policy spells out that, pursuant to the Constitution, detentions, traffic stops, arrests, searches and seizures must be based on "reasonable suspicion, probable cause, or other required standards." What does that mean? It means that troopers "will not consider race, ethnicity, or other personal criteria in establishing either reasonable suspicion or probable cause." However, there's a caveat: State police may take into account race, immigration status and other personal criteria of suspects if "credible" and "reliable" information "links persons of specific description criteria to particular criminal incidents."
The police was first adopted in 2003 and revised most recently on July 15, 2011.
State police did have a legitimate reason for making the traffic stop on Tuesday. The driver, Bill Hoag, a U.S. citizen from North Randolph, was traveling 88 mph on Interstate 89 in Middlesex when police stopped him. The question may be whether police had legitimate reasons to suspect farm workers Danilo Lopez and Antonio Mesa of being here illegally and to ask about their identification.
The Vermont Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project has questioned why the men were asked for ID, since they were passengers and were not driving the car; the group claims that racial profiling was at work. State police have not said how they became aware that the workers were undocumented; the state police press release only states, "Through the course of the traffic stop it was learned that the passengers were allegedly residing illegally in the United States."
Vermont State Police spokeswoman Stephani Dasaro did not immediately respond on Friday to questions about the traffic stop, including whether state police routinely ask passengers for identification.
*Update and Clarification Below*
An immigration bust by Vermont State Police on Tuesday, and the subsequent arrest of protesters, is sending shock waves around the state.
Earlier today, two undocumented migrant farm workers — one of them an outspoken critic of a controversial immigration enforcement program — were detained by state police following a routine traffic stop on I-89 in Middlesex and handed over to the U.S. Border Patrol. Brendan O'Neill, an organizer with the VT Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project, said farm workers Danilo Lopez and Antonio Mesa (whose last name is unknown) were racially profiled by state police after a car they were passengers in was pulled over for speeding — a violation of the Vermont State Police's bias-free policing policy, O'Neill claims.
The situation escalated this afternoon, when activists from the Solidarity Project showed up at the Middlesex state police barracks to protest the farm workers' expected deportation. When the Border Patrol tried to leave with the handcuffed immigrants in SUVs, five of the protesters locked arms and blocked the government vehicle — provoking a standoff that ended with three of them being carted off and arrested. (See video above).
Later Tuesday, Gov. Peter Shumlin ordered an investigation into the traffic stop.
"The Governor is concerned by accounts of the incident and ordered an immediate internal investigation to determine the facts of what happened and if Vermont State Police bias-free policies were followed," a statement from the governor's office read. "In addition, he has instructed his legal counsel to lead a review of State Police policies relating to undocumented workers in the state with an eye toward ensuring bias-free policing conduct is observed in all settings."
The immigrants were passengers in a vehicle driven by a friend, Bill Hoag of North Randolph. According to Vermont State Police, Hoag was pulled over for driving 88 mph in a 65 mph zone on I-89 in Middlesex. Hoag produced valid identification, the state police said, and was "released with the possibility of a future civil citation."
"Through the course of the traffic stop it was learned that the passengers were allegedly residing illegally in the United States," a state police press release said. "Troopers contacted U.S. Border Patrol, and Border Patrol agents issued an Immigration Detainer requesting that the Vermont State Police detain the individuals until their arrival at the Middlesex Barracks. At the time of this press release, both subjects were released by the U.S. Border Patrol with a Notice to Appear at a future date."
The director of the state police, Col. Tom L'Esperance, issued a written statement about the incident, stating, "An internal investigation has been order[sic], as well as a review of policies relating to incidents involving undocumented workers in the state to ensure bias-free policing conduct in all settings. The Vermont State Police take seriously the necessity of ensuring fair and humane treatment of all people living and working in Vermont, regardless of their race, ethnicity, immigration status, or other personal criteria."
Three protesters were cited and released for disorderly conduct: John J. MacLean, 51, of Burlington; Brendan O’Neill, 38, of Underhill; and Avery Brook, 29, of Burlington.
Last fall, Attorney General Bill Sorrell unveiled a bias-free policing policy that takes a "don't ask, don't tell" approach to immigration status — and urged all local police agencies to adopt it. At the time, he declared that Vermont was no Arizona. In July, L'Esperance told Seven Days that state troopers follow a bias-free policy that is "consistent" with Sorrell's. But this incident — and others like it — raise questions about that.
Mandy Park is an immigration activist who co-authored a set of bias-free policing recommendations that informed Sorrell's recommended policy. On Tuesday afternoon, she was outside Middlesex barracks working for the farm workers' release and noted those recommendations list the state police among the Vermont agencies that adhere to bias-free policing.
"We should remove them from the list," said Park, who works with the Central Vermont Farmworker Coalition. "As far as we're concerned, they are not practicing bias-free policing at all."
Outside the Middlesex barracks, the driver of the car, Bill Hoag, was remorseful about the situation.
"It's my fault," Hoag said. "I got pulled over for speeding and [the trooper] started to question them. We were headed back to their place. They're just friends. My wife and I had them over for dinner because they fixed up a little lawn tractor."
(Pictured: Natalia Farjardo of the VT Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project embraces Lopez as he's led to the Border Patrol SUV.)
According to Hoag, during the stop State Trooper Jared Hatch radioed back to a supervisor to check whether he could ask the passengers about their immigration status. As Hoag recalls, the trooper then told him that he could, as long as the farm workers were not victims of or witnesses to a crime. When Lopez and Antonio couldn't produce documentation, police took them into custody and called the Border Patrol.
"I was never even given a traffic ticket," Hoag said later.
Brendan O'Neill acknowledges the farm workers weren't able to produce valid visas, but maintains that under the Vermont State Police bias-free policing policy, the trooper had no right to ask for papers unless the farm workers were suspected of crimes.
Lopez is a 22-year-old Mexican employed at a horse farm in Charlotte. Recently he has become the public face of an organizing campaign by Vermont migrant farm workers — many of them employed illegally on dairy farms — against a controversial federal immigration enforcement program known as Secure Communities. (This file photo was taken three weeks ago in Montpelier when Lopez and a fellow farm worker hand-delivered a petition signed by 70 migrant laborers asking Shumlin to reject Secure Communities. Later that morning, they held a press conference on the statehouse steps.)
Less is known about Antonio Mesa — including his last name. Activists with the VT Migrant Farm Workers Solidarity Project weren't familiar with him and Hoag didn't know much about him.
Under Secure Communities, local police agencies share fingerprints with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The program's goal is to catch and deport criminal aliens, but it has come under fire for sweeping up large numbers of undocumented immigrants with no criminal records. Vermont has not enacted the program but the Obama administration has pledged to expand it nationwide by 2013.
Despite his outspokenness, Lopez's arrest appears to be pure coincidence.
From inside the state police holding cell, Lopez texted a message to O'Neill of the Solidarity Project at 12:44 p.m. Tuesday, who relayed it to the world. As translated by O'Neill, the message read:
"My name is Danilo. Today the police stopped us. Though there was no reason to ask for my documented status they did and only for being a different color from our friend who was driving. We chose to remain silent to not have more problems. He called the Border Patrol quickly. If this message reaches the governor it is so he can see our cruel reality. We spoke with him not too long ago about this 'Polimigra' and we have another meeting that now I will not be able to attend."
Here's all the video, start to finish. It begins with Border Patrol agents leading a handcuffed Lopez out of the state police barracks and into their vehicle.
Five protesters from the VT Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project locked arms in front of the Border Patrol vehicle, attempting to stop it from leaving.
When they refused to move out of the way, state police moved in to arrest the group. Three of the five were handcuffed and charged with disorderly conduct for impeding traffic.
The Farmworker Solidarity Project had scheduled a vigil for Tuesday evening outside the Border Patrol station in Richford.
*Update and Clarification*
Update: Danilo Lopez and Antonio Mesa were released by the U.S. Border Patrol late on Tuesday evening with citations to appear in court at a future, unspecified date.
Clarification: This post stated that Mandy Park of the Central Vermont Migrant Farmworkers Coalition "co-authored a set of bias-free policing recommendations that informed [Attorney General Bill] Sorrell's recommended policy." Park co-authored a document entitled "Action Pack: Bias Free Policing Across Vermont. An End to Police Profiling for Communities of Color and Immigrants." Download the Action Pack here. That document was released after Sorrell announced his recommended bias-free policy for Vermont police agencies in October 2010. However, Park was involved in discussions in June 2010 with Sorrell to gather feedback and suggestions on an early draft of the bias-free policy. In the end, Sorrell did adopt some of the recommendations suggested at that June meeting.
Two migrant farm workers took a day off Thursday to deliver a petition to Gov. Peter Shumlin asking him to oppose a controversial federal immigration enforcement program. But the governor was tied up in meetings, so Danilo Lopez and Over Lopez (pictured) pleaded their case with the Agency of Agriculture's second-in-command instead.
For the last month, the Lopezes (who are not related) have been organizing migrant workers on Vermont dairy, vegetable and horse farms in opposition to Secure Communities, or S-Comm, an Obama administration program that shares fingerprints collected by local police agencies with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The program's goal is to catch and deport criminal aliens, but it has come under fire for sweeping up large numbers of undocumented immigrants who have no criminal record.
Asked about S-Comm at his weekly press conference, Shumlin said that on a "philosophical level" he believes Vermont should treat migrant workers with "respect and dignity." But he stopped well short of committing to taking a stand against the program.
"I haven't seen exactly what they're asking us to do," the governor said, "so I'm gonna plead the Fifth."
Armed with a petition signed by 70 migrant workers, the Lopezes (Danilo is pictured at right) and other members of the Vermont Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project arrived in Montpelier unannounced at 8:45 a.m. hoping to catch the governor. Instead, they were greeted by a gubernatorial intern, Catherine Craig, who informed the group that the governor was in meetings all morning. She escorted them across the street to the Agency of Agriculture for an impromptu meeting with Deputy Secretary Diane Bothfeld.
The immigrants' petition asks Shumlin to publicly "say no" to Secure Communities because it "threatens our security," "promotes racial discrimination" and lacks transparency. Until recently, it was unclear whether the program was voluntary or mandatory, and governors in three states — Massachusetts, New York and Illinois — declared they would not participate. ICE has since clarified that S-Comm is mandatory and that every state must be on board by 2013. The Shumlin administration has said no one from ICE has approached Vermont officials yet about participating.
Bothfeld appeared unfamiliar with the immigration enforcement program, asking the farm workers whether it was "Vermont or federal?" Through a translator, Over Lopez, a 21-year-old Mexican who works six days a week growing greenhouse vegetables, clarified that it was federal and told Bothfeld: "We are part of the workforce in the dairy industry. If we were to be removed or deported, your state would be in an economic crisis. Everything would collapse."
Danilo Lopez, a 22-year-old Mexican employed on a horse farm in Charlotte, added: "We come to this country for necessity — to try to feed our families, and if they get sick, to have something to send them to a hospital with. If we were to flip roles and you or Mr. Shumlin were in my situation, you would seek support to defend your rights."
Bothfeld (pictured with Danilo Lopez) listened and promised to pass on the request to Shumlin, as well as supply the farm workers with figures about the exact number of migrant workers employed on Vermont farms. The Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project estimates that 1200 to 1500 migrant workers help sustain Vermont's struggling dairy farms. Most of these workers are not documented.
The workers also released an open letter today to Vermont farmers asking for their support in opposing S-Comm. It reads, "Such programs also affect you as an employer because when we run the risk of arrest, it leaves you without workers and damages your farms and threatens your income. In order to recruit new people, you must again teach them the operations of the farm, only to run the risk of repeating history over again."
The delivery of the petition to Shumlin was timed to loosely coincide with a wave of national protests against S-Comm and the release of a critical new report about the initiative.
Later, at his weekly press conference, Shumlin was asked about the petition and whether he thinks Vermont law enforcement should be acting as immigration agents. The governor wouldn't directly answer the question but said: "On a philosophical level this is what I know. Vermont farmers rely on migrant labor to deliver product to market. And we want to be a state that takes good care of the people that work so hard on our farms."
Shumlin added that he wants Vermont banks to figure out a way for migrant workers to transfer money back home without incurring high-fee services as Western Union does. "We want to make sure that Vermont is a state where, when we host migrant workers, we treat them with respect and dignity. We have a raging immigration debate going on in America. There's no question, in my view, that our immigration policies in this country are broken, and that the federal government is ... frankly, some of their policies are out of step with how we treat our farm workers in Vermont."
Did the "earthquake defense" work for Felicier Edmond, a Haitian immigrant busted illegally crossing the Canadian border into Vermont?
Looks that way. Edmond secured a plea deal in federal court in Burlington on Tuesday that got him a lesser charge (a misdemeanor instead of a felony) and no additional jail time in exchange for a guilty plea. He could have gotten 6 months in prison and up to $5000 in fines.
The sentence came with a big ironic twist: Felicier will probably be allowed to remain in the U.S., even though he, like thousands of other Haitians who came here after the quake, have standing deportation orders.
Click here for background on the flood of Haitians into Vermont. Click here for background on Edmond.
After the Jan. 12 earthquake, the Obama administration granted "temporary protected status" to Haitians living illegally in the U.S. — meaning they wouldn't be deported back to Haiti (the logic being that Haiti is now far too dangerous and unstable). Many Haitians who left the U.S. under deportation orders started coming back after that happened, even though temporary protected status only applied to Haitians living here before the earthquake happened.
Many, like Edmond, came from Canada, where they went seeking asylum in 2007 and 2008 after crackdowns by U.S. authorities. But like Edmond, many got caught at the Vermont border and thrown in jail.
Felicier's been in prison since his arrest on Feb. 5. U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss said at his sentencing Tuesday that he's served enough jail time and didn't have money to pay fines. He's now released into the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, where he'll be free to apply for an "order of supervision," a type of temporary status that lets him work and stay in the U.S. indefinitely.
Edmond's lawyer, David Watts of Burlington, said his client intends to apply for — and hopefully receive — an order of supervision that will let him return to his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where he lived with his wife and 4-year-old son for a decade before going to Canada last fall.
Even though he doesn't qualify for temporary protected status, Watts said Edmond won't be sent back to Haiti (too dangerous) and won't be sent back to Canada (he wasn't granted asylum there).
Watts defended Edmond using what could be called an "earthquake defense." He argued that Edmond's family back in Haiti faced a life-and-death situation without sustained money sent home by Edmond — and that Edmond couldn't earn money in Canada, so he had to return to the U.S.
Federal prosecutors fought to block Edmond from presenting any evidence relating to the earthquake, but Watts pressed on, filing motions filled with gut-wrenching stories about the disaster's impact on Edmond's family. The quake left one of Edmond's relatives dead, another seriously wounded and many more homeless and forced to cram into a small, rural dwelling.
At sentencing, Edmond, a handsome, stocky man dressed in blue jeans and a gray sweatshirt, thanked his lawyers and prosecutors but said nothing else. Afterward, U.S. Marshals led him away in handcuffs.
"These are salt of the earth type folks," said Watts, who is representing two other Haitian clients. "It's these kinds of cases that remind us what our culture is all about. The reason the U.S. is strong is our tradition of welcoming people facing extraordinarily difficult situations at home."
Does the devastating earthquake in Haiti — and the need to send money to suffering family members there — provide a valid defense for a Haitian immigrant caught illegally crossing from Canada into Vermont?
We're about to find out.
Thirty-seven-year-old Felicier Edmond, one of more than 100 Haitian immigrants jailed for illegally crossing the Canada-Vermont border this winter, is pressing his case at a jury trial in federal court in Burlington — and the tragic earthquake is central to his defense. Edmond goes on trial May 17 and 18 for illegal re-entry. He was caught on February 5 near Newport by U.S. Border Patrol agents acting on a neighbor's tip.
(Click here for 7D background on the flood of Haitians pouring into Vermont).
According to court filings, Edmond's lawyer, David Watts of Burlington, will argue a "necessity" defense that amounts to: Edmond's family in Haiti faced a life-and-death situation after the earthquake and had insufficient funds to survive without money sent by Edmond, and that he had to return to the U.S. because he couldn't find work in Canada.
Federal prosecutors, meanwhile, have asked the judge to exclude any testimony about the earthquake — or its impacts on Edmond's family — as irrelevant and prejudicial.
In court papers, Watts portrays Edmond as a "classic first-generation immigrant" who came here "to make a better life for himself and his family."
"He worked hard at difficult underpaid employment, paid his taxes, and always supported his wife and son, a native U.S. citizen," Watts writes in a court brief.
Then the earthquake hit. Edmond's 13-year-old daughter Rose sustained a serious leg injury. His brothers and sisters, and their children, were forced to flee Port-au-Prince for the cramped confines of their parents' home six hours outside the city, in rural Haiti.
"Before the earthquake," Edmond's lawyer writes, "by combining their meager Haitian incomes and significant monthly support from Felicier, his parents and siblings and their families were barely able to get by. Since the earthquake, their humble circumstances have gone from desperate to life-and-death."
U.S. Attorney Tristram Coffin has asked the judge to exclude evidence about the earthquake and its impact on Edmond's family in part because, he says in a court filing, it would "improperly appeal to the jury's sympathy and risk improper influence."
If a desire to help one's family was a defense to illegal re-entry, Coffin writes, then "the statute would be eviscerated."
Moreover, Coffin argues that Edmond has failed to prove that his family is in a life-and-death situation, or that they couldn't survive without his money. Coffin notes that Edmond was apprehended with $705 cash in his pocket. Why didn't he send that home? And why didn't Edmond, who apparently owns a home in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., sell his assets to support his Haitian relatives?
Finally, Coffin argues that Edmond's sworn statements to border agents contradicts his current defense.
"When asked, 'What was your intention of coming to the United States?' Edmond responded: 'It was too cold in Canada, I was trying to get back to my family and my house.'
"Were his motives as altruistic as his Motion suggests," Coffin writes, "he would have advised Border Patrol accordingly."
Starting in January, Haitians began flooding into the U.S. from Canada, in many instances in hopes of gaining "temporary protected status" — a special protection that would prevent the U.S. from deporting them back to Haiti. The Obama administration added Haiti to the list of countries deemed unsafe for deportations following the January 12 earthquake.
Edmond appears to be that rare Haitian-immigrant case that is actually going to a jury trial. Most of the Haitian defendants appear to be pleading their cases out. The human story presented in Edmond's defense is compelling — but whether a jury ever gets to hear it is far from certain.