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By Paul Bean and Guy Page
The U.S. Border Patrol conducted a raid yesterday evening, Monday, April 21 at Pleasant Valley Farms in Berkshire, the largest dairy farm in Vermont.
Operating since 1986, Pleasant Valley milks over 3,000 cows across 10,000 acres. The farm is owned and operated by Mark and Amanda St. Pierre, with their sons Bradley and Jamie St. Pierre. Jamie is married to Vermont Olympic runner Elle St. Pierre.
The farm is located close to the U.S. – Canada border.
A government official familiar with the event said Border Patrol saw three migrant workers walking down the driveway on the premises of the farm. The agents then pursued the migrants through the milking parlor. Arrests were made, while others escaped. It is unclear how many were arrested and how many escaped pursuit.
Since the Trump administration took office, federal authorities have heretofore not arrested migrant workers on the premises of the farms where they are employed. Most arrests occur when the workers are spotted at a store or other public place, a source familiar with Border Patrol practices on Vermont farms said.
Migrant Justice, an advocacy group for illegal aliens living in Vermont, especially farm workers, has not published any information on its social media sites.
Vermont’s farm economy is largely dependent on immigrant workers, including those here illegally, for labor. An estimated 800-1500 immigrant workers are employed at the state’s dairy farms.
VDC learned of the incident at about 11 AM this morning, and is in contact with federal authorities in an effort to learn more details.
At this time it is also unclear whether the arrests were for violations of immigration status, or for other federal law. And it is not known at this time whether this raid was an isolated incident locally or was ordered by upper echelons of Department of Homeland Security.
Neither the Franklin County Sheriff’s Dept. nor the Vermont State Police (which covers Berkshire) had any comment about the incident.
VDC will follow this story and publish more information as soon as possible.
Governor Phil Scott has issued the following statement:
“Earlier today, my team became aware of migrant workers in Franklin County who were apprehended by Border Patrol agents yesterday. We are continuing to collect information to better understand the circumstances and facts.
“I have long been clear: migrant workers are an essential part of our communities. They are our neighbors and friends, have kids in our schools, shop at our businesses, and play an important role in our economy and workforce.
“It’s far past time for Congress and the President to pass comprehensive immigration reform that would allow pathways to citizenship and greater opportunities for law abiding, hardworking individuals to earn a living in our state, rather than being forced to live in the shadows. Vermont will continue to be a welcoming place for those who are seeking a better life and greater opportunities. It’s time for the federal government to put politics aside and truly make America the envy of the world once again.”
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Categories: Agriculture, Border
I dunno. Need more facts….details…. D Morrisseau
How is anyone to give a valid opinion without more facts and context?
If these workers followed the process to work in the U.S. legally why would they be taken or held?
It would seem a person with legal documentation would show it to law enforcement for validation.
Are we saying just because they work on farms they should be allowed to be in the U.S. illegally?
Could we have more information please?
I am very sorry to read this. I have been concerned about such individuals, and have hoped that this would not occur to any of that are essential workers on so many of the farms in Vt. I will wait to learn more information about the decision to arrest these particular individuals.
There is a process for farms to have migrant workers on the farm. From this article is difficult to say if these workers were legally here and workng. If the process is cumbersome or difficult, then the rules need to change, and with such liberal progressive “representatives” that’s should be super easy.
If they are here illegally they deserve to be deported! There were plenty of Farm Workers before all these illegals showed up and started to work for lower wages! There’s also temporary work visas for Migrants for certain things! The committed a crime when they crossed the Border illegally! Bottom line… it appears none have provided any legal papers allowing them to be here
it is too bad this has to happen. I don’t really blame the workers although there are plenty of legal means to work in ag here in the US. I would LOVE to know what and how they’re being paid. What are these farmers actually getting away with by having illegals doing the labor? I sure it’s at least minimum wage although that would be disappointing for sure.
It’s past time to clean house in our country and state. Draining the swamp is huge. There is so much fraud and corruption going on, even in local and state government. DOGE has showed us the corruption at the federal level, but if we’re not looking for their results we won’t see any. We must look at media other than mainstream, who apparently don’t want to put out the truth. It does seem, in this article, that legit migrant farm workers would be the last for the feds to go after. Why can’t we see the corruption removed in Montpelier and Waterbury first??
Basically amounts to very cheap labor, not dissimilar to those picking cotton in the pre civil war south.
Berkshire , Vermont in 2021 had from the 2020 December voter rolls.
75 addresses that were listed as 0 such and such a Road .
15 different roads . FYI no street addresses are ever at 0 .
Be certain that’s not the only Fishy thing going on in Berkshire .
Red flags , relating to Federally subsidized Agg programs already had the eyes of the Federal government on Berkshire 5 years ago .
nothing to see, nothing to see, vermont politics are as pure as the driven snow, you must not be getting your daily allowance of propaganda.
There is a program for these workers that I believe is 10 months on the job then 2 months home in their native land then they can start the cycle again ,sounds fair to me but if we let all break the rules it wouldn’t be long before VT became a banana republic….wait a minute, I forgot ,Burlington is Vermont’s official banana republic. That started when Bernie Sanders fast talked his way into being mayor of VT’s first Banana republic.
where they allowed out of state student residents to vote, I remember in college when it happened, even then i thought this makes no sense.
Illegal is Illegal, it is that simple.
However, let me say that during both the Biden and Obama terms they could have developed a common sense plam to manage the issue of Illegals working and not causing problems. They did not!
However, as I recall, in Pres. Trumps 1st year in his 1st term He did. It was simple; get a Green card be part of society if your not a criminal or drain on society; ie employed. However, there would be no path to citizenship – unless you entered the US legally. Pretty simple. We would not have these arrest if the Dems approved the Donald’s plan.
So sad!
Homan, visit Winooski next please.
That’s right, send all the Butanese, Nepalese, Bantu Somali, Bosnian off to El Salvador. Don’t forget all the Vietnamese — they came years ago and have continued to reproduce for at least two generations! They are replacing you, by God! And while you’re at it, send off the people who run the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program and the doctors who tend to all these people at the Community Health Centers throughout Burlington and Winooski. Send them all away!
FWIW: “Even within first couple weeks, people go to work. They rent in those communities, they shop in those communities, so they contribute to the taxpayer pool.” — Amila Merdzanovic, the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program
Winooski Police Sergeant Michael Cram says in his more than twenty years on the job, refugees seem no more likely to commit crimes than the general population.
Nothing better for people than working the fields, woods, and parlors of Vermont farms. Nothing better to turn fine young Vermont men and women into trustworthy hard-working adults. Ahn yes, the lore of past making a comeback. Hurray for Immigration trying to make America great again. Boo on the farms for using under paid, illegal workers for profit. Guess we’ll write farm off as a go to for winter survival needs.
I have sympathy for all involved. But I also believe strongly in small farms. I don’t even want to see a place that milks 3,000 cows.
Maybe DOGE will somehow stop the subsidizing of large farms. This will be a huge step toward Making America Healthy Again!
Drink raw milk produced from a small local farmer and read ‘Small Farm Republic’, by John Klar. (It’s not just a feel good book! )
Rebecca Pitre, unfortunately, with today’s population densitys larger production centers may be necessary.
Sometimes it is not wise to bulldoze the whole forest to remove a few bad trees. No comment from our Vermont law enforcement.
Your syntax isn’t clear. What , exactly, do you mean?
https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-workers/h-2a-temporary-agricultural-workers There is a path to work here already. One just has to follow it.
My uncle married a woman from Russia. She applied for a green card before they even came to the U.S. She’s lived here five years, waiting. She finally got her card last year. The system is broken. If a college-educated engineer can’t get a green card in a timely manner, what hope does an uneducated person living in deep poverty have?
H2A visas are for seasonal workers; dairy farms need year round workers.
Nope. This was NOT a raid. I was there on scene when this happened. BP told me they had received a call from a citizen to report a group of men walking out of the woods carrying backpacks (i.e. the very description of people who are crossing the border illegally). BP went to investigate bc they could not ignore a complaint like that. When they arrived, the men started fleeing, thus, they were pursued. That is what happens when you run from BP- regardless of your race, immigration status or color!
Thank you Jocelyn for these details. Too bad that the media, ie. WCAX isn’t doing more investigation before reporting. It sounds like it is unfortunate that that particular farm is located so close to the border.
Thank you Jocelyn for the added information.
I would also add:
This is what happens when Vermont Government Officials including Gov. Scott, think they are above the law and can lawlessly declare Vermont a sanctuary state, and to further use tax monies to harbor illegal aliens in violation of U.S. Federal Immigration Laws.
I don’t think they expected law and order to return to the U.S. Government and/or the Presidency.
Sounds like a good place for all Vermont’s homeless to go work and get off the streets. I know it will never happen as they prefer “free stuff.”
We had “ poor farms” in our towns just for that purpose. Now they are all housing developments and even schoolyards.
There’s nothing wrong with going through all the legal channels required to become a naturalized US citizens. Countless millions of immigrants in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries did this to help make our nation strong, creative, and industrious. Those who were willing to do the hard work and submit to the legal process were rewarded with proud and 100% legitimate citizenship in the greatest country in the world. Why is this clean and honest process such a difficult concept for people to understand and support today?
To William Olenick’s point about foreign workers who are legally permitted to work here for so many months each year, return to their native country, and then return to the US to work: I have worked with many of these hardworking folks who sacrifice to provide for their families back home. They’re not looking to crawl under the fence or climb over the wall; they come here legally and legitimately, and contribute to our economy. They don’t expect to vote, and neither should we expect them to.
If a farm or business or enterprise can’t find enough employees who are US citizens to legally and legitimately support its operations, it needs to scale back rather than cheat. Income and profits gained illegally or at the expense of exploiting people is never worth it in the long run.
Laws. What are laws? When a person, a business or any entity can pick and choose what laws to follow in a civilized society, where the hell are we at? I’ll tell you where we are at. It is the root cause of the destruction of a civilized society. The way I see it is, the St. Pierres knowingly were breaking the law by hiring illegals as are all others who do the same. It used to be against the law. For those who say the St. Pierres had to hire them in order to survive a 3,000 head of dairy cow farm, cry me a river.
TEL LIE. VISION tonight said this was a raid and named the persons in jail. Now, will we get the rest of the story??????
👍🇺🇸🗽🇺🇸👍 Get-R-Done Patriots Get-R-Done Donald J Trump Get-R-Done and Crew Get-R-Done!!
So much for “Cider House Rules.” It seems that the nefarious owners of the 3,000 cow spread just consider the laws governing the Guest Workers Program, more like flexible “Cider House Guidelines,” allowing them to scoff the law as necessary.
Utterly illegal.
No matter what many posters have said about illegal workers deserving to be picked up,(if that’s what happened), consider that 99.9% of Vermont’s dairy farms hire foreign workers ONLY because they cannot find Vermonters willing to show up on time, every day, and perform the work required. Most of these jobs pay well above a “living wage” even when you consider the cost of living in Vermont. Unfortunately for our farmers, unemployment and welfare pay even more!
Montpelier, here’s your sign.
Don’t worry once the tariffs hit and DOGE finishes with Social Security, there will be plenty of boomers in Vermont looking for work and they claim to love getting their hands dirty
Do you have any facts or proof to back that up? Like a link to a farm job that pays more than 18 bucks an hour?
I say we sign up retirees to work the farms, since it’s their generations health bills that are bankrupting this state. The few able bodied people left in this state are the ones who are subsidizing the end of care costs for the boomer generation, and dragging the rest of us to the poor house with them. It will take about 10-15 years, but when our oversized aging population eventually dies, and gets replaced with a smaller popluation, the financial burden will be easier for us younger folk.
Chris, most people in Vermont have 2-3 jobs regardless of age, I bet the majority of people above 60 are working jobs, I see them everyday at work! Many are lame and in poor physical condition, but they come to work everyday and get the job done. Not sure who you hang out with.
Neil,
While I have a second job, only 9% of Vermonters do, so that’s far from most. A good second job for you might be Dave Soulia’s factchecker because I think I am the only person here who knows how to cite a statistic
https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/money/industries/2015/05/13/surprising-facts-vermonts-second-job-holders/27241701/
Border Patrol received a tip (see something say something) and they checked it out. Good on two points – citizens are watching and reporting and law enforcement actually responded. It is up to Vermonters to take back Vermont and it is up to law enforcement to protect citizens – what we pay them to do.
If the work visas were legit and not expired – there would be no reason to run. Many seasonal or farm workers know the drill and abide by the rules. Let it be known many of those legit workers have lost their opportunities to illegals as well. Human trafficking for nefarious reasons shall not be tolerated and those supporting modern exploitive slavery should be ashamed of themselves…if they have a conscience to begin with…
Did these workers have a green card or any other worker visa ?,if so, did it expire ?? and if it did, what did the farmer do to keep his helpers, like turning to anyone of Vermonts three stooges we have in DC…………….. Nah !!
If they are illegals and broke into our country, they should be deported, and the farmer should be held for accountable for harboring illegals.
How about getting those US citizens on the Government TIT, working on these farms,
maybe they’ll get a little self-esteem, and they’ll even get a pay check ………….
Pay attention, Henry. Vermont (and Wisconsin) dairy farms have been employing Mexican farm workers for many years, generally via H-2A (one-year visas which can be extended for up to three years, followed by a specified period of absence to reset eligibility.) H-2A workers may have tax withheld like any other worker, otherwise must report income like any other 1099 contractor.
If you want the pretty Vermont cows on the farms, you need workers. The profit margin for dairy is pitifully meager, the work is hard and the pay is not enough for any young Vermonter to live on and attempt to raise a family. Try it some time.
“Illegals” wearing black hoodies and backpacks are not sneaking over the border to work on St Pierres’ or anybody else’s farm. Let CBP interdict them as they see fit but leave the farm workers (who are an integral part of Vermont economy) alone.
Our government allows foreign workers absolutely, just not illegal ones. Come legal and all is well.
To Alan:
I worked every summer on a farm during my teen years for $5.00/hr, and was happy to help my neighbors. Have you ever worked on a farm?
If you want to discuss who’s dragging you to the poor house, try looking at the excessive taxes we pay on income, property taxes to support a bloated school system with declining student populations, sales tax, local option tax, child care tax. A good portion of our aging population pays for your welfare, food stamps and Medicaid.