Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have arrested another Vermont farmworker, according to a statement released Friday by Migrant Justice.
Alejandro Hernández-Ventura, 25, was being held at the Strafford County, N.H., detention center in lieu of an $8,000 bond, the group said.
Shortly after leaving home on a dairy farm in Addison County on Sunday, according to an account from Migrant Justice, Hernández-Ventura and his wife noticed that their car was being followed. They pulled over after ICE officers flashed their vehicle lights. The agents pulled the Mexican man out of his car and handcuffed him before driving off.
According to Migrant Justice, Hernández-Ventura has never been arrested or had any previous contact with ICE during the nine years he’s been in Vermont.
“As we denounce the unconscionable separation of families on the southern border, let us not forget the families torn apart by detention and deportation around the country, including here in Vermont,” said Migrant Justice spokesperson Enrique Balcazar in the press release. “Alejandro must be freed and reunited with his wife and community.”
Balcazar himself had been arrested by ICE last year, and a case against him is pending in immigration court.
Hernández-Ventura is represented by Enrique Mesa, an immigration lawyer based in New Hampshire, said Will Lambek, another Migrant Justice spokesperson.
No hearing has been scheduled. Mesa hopes to ask a judge to reduce the bond so that Hernández-Ventura can be released, Lambek added.
Last year, an immigration lawyer who represented several Migrant Justice members said his clients had been targeted by ICE because of their advocacy work.
Hernández-Ventura was involved with Migrant Justice in the past but “hasn’t been very active in recent years,” Lambek said. “We don’t have any reason to suspect that his participation in Migrant Justice led to his arrest.”
A Families Belong Together rally had been scheduled in Burlington on Saturday to protest the Trump administration’s recently reversed policy of separating members of families who cross the border seeking asylum. That rally will also bring attention to Hernández-Ventura’s arrest. It’s set for 10 a.m. on Church Street.
More than 400 people have signed an online petition created by Migrant Justice to show support for Hernández-Ventura.
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As stated – “yes, if a employer knowingly hires an illegal, they should be punished severely.”
I have 2 good friends who own Addison County dairy farms, They only employ people who can provide a social security # or seemingly valid a green card. Some of their workers were associated with the person in this story. These 2 farm owners have had several realistic falsified green cards provided by savvy illegal immigrants. Unless knowingly hiring illegal entrants, it’s hard to blame the employers for others intentional illegal acts. These workers are not stupid, know the American system, have access to illegal immigrant support networks, have good internet access, and are sneaking into the country for the sole purpose of making more $ than they could at home, and mailing said money back home, all the while fully knowing that what they are doing is against our laws. All those who wish to immigrate to our wonderul country via legal means should be welcome – it is not a difficult concept.
Many people seem far angrier at the farm-worker than the farmer that is paying him, both of whom broke the law. Why should we be more angry at the migrant?
If we want to have a more orderly immigration system (which I believe everyone does), it makes a lot more sense to target employers, simply because there are a lot fewer of them. Employers can also be targeted with fines, which not only are more humane, they raise revenue rather than costing the government a lot of money.
There’s no need to inflict this extra suffering.
“I’ll do work for low wages, send my money back to South America, and in exchange I can sneak in if i feel it works for me”…sorry, that is not ok, given it is now a fact that a few people carrying a pound of biological virus or a few pounds of nuclear material can wipe out tens of thousands of people. This is a fact, and must be guarded against. yes, if a employer knowingly hires an illegal, they should be punished severely. If we allow un-vetted and un-restricted immigration from south/Central American, and other regions that are economic and criminal messes, our country will eventually become flooded with the vary societies and standards that allowed the horrible systems to evolve where they came from. If an immigrant wishes to come here, they need to assimilate and and not segregate , that includes the English language. the socialist utopia mess of Venezuela, Honduras, etc is exactly why we need strong borders and proper vetting of those seeking entry. And Do away with the family chain migrations, and allowing citizenship only by birth – I believe these are insane policies which we will regret on 30 years from now.
“If I broke into your home, I would be arrested and sent to jail.”
If you broke into my home and did all of the dishes, laundry, dusted, and all of the other shitty work I doubt I would be that upset with the initial infraction.
If I broke into your home, I would be arrested and sent to jail. Same here. Breaking into our country doesn’t make an illegal alien an immigrant any more than my breaking into your home makes me a member of your family. He needs to leave.
What a waste of money and “cop” time that should be focused on a more directly humane and socially good, “police” effort.
Farm work and food service jobs are an excellent entry point into the US economy, and Vermont farms becoming more international, and open to all who want to grow food, can only serve to better these slumping rural communities and all communities who just want to liven the place up.
Rather than hiding folks out on farm sanctuaries, we should be welcoming, as is the case for all other transplants. Offer openings into our rural life. Plan for diverse community and better; cleaner and safer living and work conditions for those who choose these hard but meaningful manual jobs is far more fulfilling and moral.
H2A will never achieve this by itself.
Doesn’t ICE have anything better to do then break up families and law abiding people who work and pay taxes? Trump has made things much worse than better by his stupid zero tolerance policy. The sooner he gets out of office the better this country Will be
“Wanting to work on a VT farm as it pays better than Mexican wages is not a free pass to break our laws, sorry.” Neither is hiring a worker whose documentation isn’t legal. Why not arrest the farmer too?
If you really want to stop “illegal immigration,” that’s the way to do it. Arrest the big employers. Jail them, Fine them. Make the cost of continuing to do business on the backs of undocumented workers too high.
Do that until everyone knows you’re serious about it, and you’ll end illegal economic migration.
You’ll also end a good deal of the American economy, but youll get the border security youre after. Everything has a cost in this life.
You don’t even know the answer to your own question so you automatically assume he’s here illegally. Just guessing here but you probably don’t have to worry about being arrested because of your name or your skin color.
Was he here illegally or did he enter via legal channels or have a green card? Wanting to work on a VT farm as it pays better than Mexican wages is not a free pass to break our laws, sorry.