*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.
This article appears in Sep 14-20, 2011.
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The migrant workers were not driving so they were not required to have or show ID. It is a difficult situation, but they should not have spoken with the officer about anything personal, they were not crossing a boarder so the officer had no right for interrogation or search. Unfortunately people don’t know their rights. Here are a few pointers from Just Cause Law Collective – http://www.lawcollective.org/If you’re not a U.S. citizen, any discussion at all with a government official can have a profound effect on your immigration status. So it’s critical that you review your rights and responsibilities before talking to anyone from a government agency.U.S. citizens do not have to carry identification with them. Occasionally, cities or counties try to pass “anti-vagrancy” laws requiring everyone to carry identification, but such provisions have always been held unconstitutional when appealed to higher courts. If you’re not in custody, then you never have to give your name. This applies in every state. However, sometimes it’s a little hard to tell whether or not you’re in custody (which is defined as “not free to go”). The important thing to remember, whether or not you give your name and address, is that you should not answer any other questions at all.
“That means that police can’t just interrogate someone because they ‘look’ like they are here illegally.”That doesn’t apply in this case. “Recently he has become the public face of an organizing campaign by Vermont migrant farm workers — many of them employed illegally on dairy farms”Holding a press conference on the statehouse steps isn’t exactly flying under the radar (pun intended).
ONE Vermonter,You crack me up. I’m not a stickler for the law, but its kind of like being pregnant. You can’t be a little. It’s an off or on condition. You either are, or aren’t.The law says don’t do this. I’ve lived out west, I have a very good friend whose family brought him here, “undocumented”. He’s deported, and never allowed back here, because he didn’t follow through the process. Through my friend, I know the garbage this system has. I’ve lived in areas of the country where this is actually a large problem, including Arizona.The thing I go back to everytime I enter this argument is this: What other laws shouldn’t be enforced because of the “back story”. Let’s say that this guy got laid off from his job. He’s collecting unemployment, but because the economy is so bad, he can’t get a job, despite trying. Setting aside the fact that the person whom is in this country illegally has the job (and is not paying income taxes in most cases, although some do, with their fake SSN and never claim the refunds), this guy can’t get a job.He needs to feed his family, so he breaks into a store, and steals some bread and peanut butter. He needs to feed his family, so does that make it right? Getting help through the system is so traumatic and filled with red tape, he can’t possibly get through it before they all starve. Is it OK to not arrest him in this case? Can’t enforce only the laws we like, I guess is my point.
“Later Tuesday, Gov. Peter Shumlin ordered an investigation into the traffic stop.”You mean, Gov. “Peter the Speeder” Shumlin? The guy who was stopped for speeding during his gubernatorial campaign last year and who tried to avoid getting a ticket by showing not his driver’s license but instead his senate ID card? The guy who commented to the officer, “Hey, maybe you’ll be working for me someday.”?How ironic that this guy orders an “investigation” into a legitimate raffic stop. The driver admitted it was his fault because he was speeding.
If it were so simple for people who wish to work in the United States to “register” and come here “legally” many people would do it. Instead, our laws and bureaucracies prevent people who support industries that we need and do the jobs no one else wants to do from immigrating or even simply migrating from coming here through legal means. Once you start to understand the laws and processes behind immigration, the issue is not simple “legal” or “illegal” as many people like to see it. This is why is it important and awesome that the Vermont State Police have this non-biased policing policy. It’s despicable that the trooper who made the traffic stop decided to take the law into his own hands. He should go work in Arizona if those are the kinds of policies / politics he wants to enforce.
Ok Jim, then the laws that establish bias-free policing must be enforced too. That means that police can’t just interrogate someone because they “look” like they are here illegally. The Governor is simply ensuring that the officers involved followed the legal procedures. Since you’re such a stickler for law and order, you shouldn’t have any problem with that at all!
What other laws should not be enforced? The guy is HERE ILLEGALLY!!! Are there any other laws that you think are unfair that shouldn’t be enforced?And to the lady who on the video asked the Board Patrol Agent what would he do if it was his wife getting deported, I’m sure he doesn’t associate with CRIMINALS. When you are Undocumented, that means you are here through means that aren’t legal. In other words, ILLEGALLY!
“Despite his outspokenness, Lopez’s arrest appears to be pure coincidence.”How does it “appear” that way? Because they didn’t specifically say that they recognized him? Come on.
It’s the threat of arrest for the woman who is not participating in the blocking of traffic that makes me really nervous. She gets threatened with arrest for speaking. That officer is the epitome of what is wrong with law enforcement. In this country we have a right to freedom of speech. Unless she is inciting violence or panic she can say whatever she wants to that officer without fear of punishment.
Wait a second, aren’t these people here illegally? Does that mean we can never send them back if caught? That would make a mockery of the law.