BENNINGTON (Vermont) BANNER April 1, 2006
Mexican workers plea before panel
MONTPELIER — Mexican farm workers toiling in the dairy barns of Addison County are subject to discrimination and the constant fear of deportation or intimidation by local authorities, an advisory civil rights panel was told Friday. It leaves the roughly 2,000 Mexican nationals, many of them in the country illegally, feeling isolated and makes their Vermont farm employers sometimes feeling like outcasts in their own communities, witnesses told the Vermont advisory committee of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. "Mexicans are afraid to go into the county's largest town without their employer because of the experience of getting 'roughed up,'" said Susannah McCandless, a graduate student at Clarkson University who has been working with the migrant workers. "The clear message is to stay down on the farm." The migrant workers have become a mainstay of the dairy economy throughout the state, particularly in Addison, Franklin and Orleans counties, the panel was told. Louise Waterman, education coordinator for the state Agriculture Agency, said an estimated one-third of the full-time employees on dairy farms were Hispanic. The Mexican workers feel isolated because so many speak no English. Because they fear deportation, they're afraid to venture off the farms for shopping, church or other social activities, said Cheryl Mitchell, a former deputy secretary in the Human Services Agency who lives in Addison County and works in social services. "Our current laws are creating a climate of fear that's having an effect on all of us," Mitchell said. "I feel there are some basic Vermont values that are being undermined and challenged by this climate of fear." There are other issues facing immigrants and refugees settling in Vermont, the commission was told. Witnesses were particularly concerned about what they described as versions of racial profiling by authorities. "The suspects of immigration violations by necessity become the victims of racial profiling," said Leslie Holman, an immigration lawyer in Burlington. "That is, they are often targeted based on their race or ethnicity because they are members of a certain minority group and are supposedly more likely to engage in unlawful behavior or be present in the U.S. illegally." Immigration officials frequently have been alerted when people who speak with an accent or who aren't white try to leave Burlington via bus, she said. Many have been taken into custody while trying to prove their identities. Eric Sakai, chairman of the advisory committee, said the panel was particularly interested in such issues as the Mexican farm workers. It anticipates reporting its findings to the full Civil Rights Commission and may decide to conduct a further investigation, he said. "The Vermont Advisory Committee wishes to learn more about this and other issues affecting Vermonts immigrants and refugees," Sakai said. "The rapid growth in the numbers of these new residents raises questions about the adequacy of the social services and other resources available to them, including health care, education, housing, employment, and legal representation, especially for those with limited English proficiency."
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