Mexican flag, stockxchng image
MIDDLEBURY — Middlebury Police Chief Tom Hanley is a burly man who plays guitar, cracks jokes and talks loud. He’s also instituted a policing policy in his town that many at the Vermont State Conference on Migrant Farmworkers think should be emulated statewide.
Essentially, Hanley is aware of undocumented farm workers in or around Middlebury, but he’s not interested in their status. That, he says, is largely because concerning himself with their citizenship would be counterproductive to his real job, which is good policing – catching bad guys and keeping the community safe and peaceful.
Harassment of undocumented workers creates a subculture of people who are afraid to report crime, he said.
In this country, police powers are vested in the states, he said. “The FBI can’t arrest you for burglary. Our authority is enforcing state laws.” The only time that his department can detain someone for an immigration violation is if ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) calls and says there’s a detainer on this person, and we need you to hold them.
“Everybody in our community is a member of that community, and we don’t care where they come from,” Hanley said.
Harassment of undocumented workers creates a subculture of people who are afraid to report crime, he said. “I don’t call that bad policing, it’s not even policing. It’s a waste of time to question people who look different or speak a different language.
“We’d have predators in our community who victimize people they know won’t report it. That would undermine our ability to keep public peace. We don’t go searching around for people who have Immigration violations. We’re not interested. Somebody who gets up in the morning and goes to work every day is of no interest to us.”
Others suggested that one thing that might come of the conference is for people to pressure their own law enforcement agencies to institute a similar policy in order to improve safety and crime reporting.
State Police are rethinking their policy, said Robert Appel, executive director of the Vermont Human Rights Commission, in part because of a Vermont incident where farm workers were pistol-whipped and robbed on payday. “It’s an ongoing conversation because it is bad policy for ne’er do wells to get away with crime because they know the victims won’t report it.”
One of the bigger problems for undocumented workers is the need to be invisible since visibility increases the risk of detection.
Barbara Whitchurch, of the New Neighbors Project at the Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services, said her organization can help victims of crime or abuse.
“Anybody can make a report to ICE and they’re required to do something,” she said. “The fear of deportation leads to under-reporting (of crime). We create pockets of people who are sitting ducks. It doesn’t take long for victimizers to realize you’re not going to report it.”
The fear of deportation colors everything, Whitchurch said. But her organization can walk victims through a crime and the legal process, and even help with compensation. “We’re trying to institute policies that are less of a risk,” she said.
The least risky is a phone call, particularly to a domestic violence group, where anonymity is safeguarded, she said.
Appel said the Human Rights Commission accepts complaints from people who feel they have been targeted.
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Thank you, Tom, for exhibiting compassion, community and common sense! Keep up the good work!
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Yes, geat job ! Of protecting illegals! We do love to pick and chose our causes in the free state , do we not? Lets let them all cross the borders , why even have a border? Canada , Mexico , hell lets let them all in. Anything to help the poor farmers, and the landscapers and the contractors , hey we could even hold down the cost of state employees, give up a few of those jobs. The cost of education could be lowered if we just hire a few illegals , No one will do anything about them because the hispanic vote is too valuable in this country.Take a look at Arizona , they love illegals don’t they? The south is filling up with hispanics ,illegal and legal, why not here? I guess no one will hire an illegal to be a police chief will they?
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These men and women are helping to keep our dairy farms in operation and keeping the rural landscape we all love. Their contributions go unnoticed. They pay taxes and social security and will never see any benefit. US immigration law does not provide enough visas for the number of low wage workers needed by farmers and other businesses in the US. So the workers come without the necessary documents, which makes them guilty of a misdemeaner, not a crime.
No human being is “illegal.”
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Hello, I am not from VT, but I have traveled the state and it is beautiful. The people were friendly and most of all I like the frankness of the people. I recientely met with Chief Thomas Hanley and what a great person to have as a Chief of Police. When I just read his stance on illigal migrant workers I wanted to applaud him. We have just gotten out of control with no allowing people who want to work come and make a living out of jobs, others in this country don’t want to do. He is trying to keep your community open and communicating. So good for you Chief.
Sherry Friedlander
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Tom Hanley needs to be fired, then prosecuted for deriliction of duty. This cop has taken an oath to protect and serve the community and to ENFORCE all of the laws, not just ones he agrees with! These farmers have to import workers because no one in this state wants to do farmwork. This is 2010, not 1890, we need manufacturing and construction jobs, not soybean picking manure shovling ones
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Tom, I really want to meet you. Reading this has shown me that there is hope and compassion in humanity. I have been to Mexico for the last four months and I have learned a lot that I would otherwise not learn about immigration, especially the sheer numbers of people that leave their homes to come to America to go to the jobs that are dangerous or considered low wage and not worth the time of “Americans.” To have any job is awesome in this economy. For one, many of these men don’t want to live in America!! Oh ho, tally ho, you mean these poor Mexican illegals don’t want to live in this beautiful welcoming society? (Note the sarcasm >.<) They don't. In fact, they make some money and return to their homes, where in their villages they can be the president, if they continue to do service for their community. Although their villages may not "compare" to our concrete jungles in terms us being "industrialized" or "developed" and the fact that we have more dollar bills in our hands, they are happy where they are. In all honesty, the majority are so much happier in their homes in Mexico. Please don't think these Mexican peoples can stand being harassed, discriminated, robbed, assaulted and injured because they love America, but they need jobs, just as thousands and maybe even hundreds of thousands of Americans need jobs.