ROCHESTER

ROCHESTER (New York) DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE

July 10, 2007

Farmers confront feds on migrants

Dairymen, growers learn that warrants aren't required for raids

YORK — Farmers learned in Livingston County Monday that law enforcement officials can come onto their farms without a warrant in their efforts to catch illegal immigrants.

About 60 farmers and farm agency representatives met at York Town Hall to hear from federal officials about how immigration laws affect them. Many local farmers depend on foreign laborers to milk their cows, prune their vines, and perhaps most significantly, harvest their fruits and vegetables.

Livingston County Sheriff John M. York organized the meeting after recent immigration arrests in Livingston County upset local farmers.

Dale P. Stein, a Le Roy, Genesee County, dairy farmer, said he learned more about warrants from the meeting.

"We were all (thinking) they had to have a search warrant," he said of fellow farmers.

Federal immigration officials said they sometimes arrive with an arrest warrant for a specific laborer, but if they have probable cause to believe laws are being broken, they can raid a farm without a warrant.

"If an agent sees something going on, he can't ignore it," said Tiffany Lee, assistant U.S. attorney. "If an individual is here illegally, they are a criminal."

Officials say there are 4,125 farms in the Rochester area — Monroe and the surrounding counties.

Several farmers, including some who didn't give their names, asked why Border Patrol agents come looking for an individual, but then sweep up all the Hispanic workers on a given farm, sometimes removing a farm's entire workforce. They also wanted to know why they couldn't be notified ahead of time, or at the time of the arrests, about actions against their employees.

An unscrupulous employer could give employees advance warning, said the immigration agents, or cause the agents' safety to be compromised.

"We are not in the business of notifying people. It's not standard operating procedure. It's an officer safety issue," said Lev J. Kubiak, assistant special agent in charge with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the Department of Homeland Security.

Kubiak said he realized farmers are in a bind, not knowing whether their workers are presenting legal documentation, but suggested they try to be as scrupulous as possible when they hire. An ICE Web site provides sample documents that employers can compare to the papers workers present.

"They need to make sure they're hiring people legally in the United States," he said.

But several people made the point that scrutinizing documents too closely can open farmers up to discrimination lawsuits.

"We're not asking you to be immigration officers at all," said Kevin Oaks, a deputy chief Border Patrol agent stationed in Grand Island. "If you do what you're doing in good faith, you have nothing to worry about."

Stein said the arrests can shut down farms temporarily, or even endanger the welfare of farm animals, when suddenly there aren't enough workers. Others also made the point that dairy cattle must be milked regularly or face pain and illness.

"The only way to make a living is to make sure you take care of your animals," said Stein, who is also president of the Genesee County Farm Bureau.

York Town Attorney Ronald Cicoria offered this advice to the farmers: "Get some good legal counsel."