A group that represents migrant farmworkers in Vermont is planning to protest the arrest of three men by immigration authorities in Newport last week.
Migrant Justice says three dairy farm workers are in immigration proceedings after the U.S. Border Patrol stopped them near a Walmart in Newport.
The three men — Ismael Mendez-Lopez, 41, Mario Diaz-Aguilar, 23, and Ubertoni Aguilar-Montero, 28 — had gone to Walmart to send money to their family members in Mexico, according to Migrant Justice.
A Border Patrol agent approached the men while in the parking lot, spoke with them briefly, then told them they could leave, the group says. However, as they left in a car driven by a friend, they were followed by an unmarked Border Patrol vehicle, which eventually pulled them over and arrested them.
Migrant Justice leader Zully Palacios said Friday that leaving the farm to run errands is a critical right for farmworkers.
“We should be able to go out to buy food, to communicate with our families, to do the basic life necessities,” she said in Spanish. Will Lambek, also of Migrant Justice, translated.
Michael McCarthy, a spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection, said in an email that U.S. Border Patrol agents based in Newport apprehended three Mexican citizens on Sunday. Agents apprehended the men “based on information from a concerned citizen,” he said.
He said the three men did not have immigration documents that allowed them to enter or stay in the U.S., and were turned over to the branch of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement that handles removal proceedings. A spokesperson for ICE did not return a request for comment on Friday.
All three men have been involved with Migrant Justice, participating in initiatives such as an effort to ensure dignified treatment for dairy workers. In a lawsuit filed last year, the group alleged that federal authorities are targeting its members.
Migrant Justice is planning to rally at the Newport Walmart early Saturday afternoon in protest of the detention of Mendez-Lopez, Diaz-Aguilar and Aguilar-Montero.
Nationally, tensions around immigration have been high. Earlier this month, President Trump promised ICE would carry out mass raids targeting migrants in major cities, which he later dialed back.
Palacios said the heightened rhetoric concerning immigration has had an impact on the community of undocumented immigrants who work on Vermont farms.
“With this government it’s becoming more visible, and the attacks from this president are stronger,” Palacios said.
The arrests of undocumented farmworkers in Vermont is not new, Palacios said. In the past, she noted, others have been detained by authorities at the same spot in Newport. However, she said, in some ways it has become more “severe.”
“The president is creating a climate where deportation agents feel they have the power to abuse human rights,” Palacios said.
Increased enforcement actions, like highway citizenship checkpoints, which Border Patrol has set up twice in Vermont since early May, take a toll on the community, Palacios said.
“It creates fear,” Palacios said. “But here in Vermont we’ve fought hard against that fear.”
She referenced policies the state has adopted, with urging from civil rights groups including Migrant Justice, that limit collaboration between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities — though she said more could be done to strengthen the policy.
Migrant Justice estimates there are between 1,200 and 1,500 undocumented farmworkers in the state.
“Vermonters need to know that we’re here,” Palacios said. “We’re not invisible, and the same things that they’re reading about happening on the southern border is happening here in Vermont as well.”
