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By John Klar
President Donald Trump has not announced any plans to deport foreigners who are legally in the US. Rather, he’s focusing federal resources solely on protecting Americans from violent offenders. Still, progressive ideologues across the nation have rallied to “protect” people illegally in the country from enforcement of longstanding immigration laws.
Vermont, an outspoken bastion of sanctuary protections, has created a “Task Force on the Federal Transition Panel,” stacked completely with pro-immigrant partisans, to prioritize the “safety” of people illegally in the state (including violent gang members) above the health and safety of taxpaying citizens.
Sanctuary State of Mind
The shamelessly anti-Trump panel is charged with “reviewing key steps workplaces can take to be prepared for a visit from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel.” This is consistent with Vermont’s oxymoronic “Fair and Impartial Policing” policy created as part of a 2017 law that prohibits local and state police from assisting federal authorities in immigration-related civil actions such as traffic stops.
The new Task Force was created by Vermont Treasurer Mike Pieciak, a Democrat who has his eyes set on running for governor of the Green Mountain State. In announcing his patently partisan plan, Pieciak invoked the fears of people illegally in the state while ignoring the concerns of endangered native Vermonters:
“The Trump Administration’s attacks on immigrants have stoked fear, confusion, and distrust throughout Vermont’s communities.
“These measures could have a profound impact on our economy, particularly our agricultural sector and housing development, both of which rely heavily on immigrant labor to support their workforce. I’m honored to partner with local and national experts to help ensure Vermont employers and their workers know what to do should ICE come knocking.”
Criminal Welcome Mat
It is unclear how much of the state’s housing shortage is due to illegal migrants who settle under Vermont’s “Welcome illegals!” sanctuary banner. Many Vermonters believe progressives abuse taxpayers by imposing a dangerous political ideology of lawlessness and open borders. The task force does not appear interested in hearing from police officers or citizens on the front lines of the state’s growing crime wave.
The recent murder of Vermont Border Patrol Agent David “Chris” Maland, apparently by members of an extremist transgender cult, has sparked a backlash against lax immigration law enforcement. Pieciak’s crocodile tears for illegal farm and housing laborers have invited gang trafficking of drugs and sex workers into what historically has been the safest state in the nation.
Vermonters are dying from fentanyl overdoses. Murders committed by out-of-state gang members have become familiar headlines. Progressives have wrongfully attacked Vermont’s police officers as racist for arresting “people of color” at higher rates than its domestic demographics – ignoring the high proportion of violators who are not Vermont residents.
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Venezuelan Felons in the Green Mountains
On Jan. 27, Venezuelan Jorge Humberto Moreno Martinez was apprehended following a reckless car chase. Court records reflect that Martinez was previously deported after serving three-and-a-half years for a New York felony burglary conviction. He re-entered the US illegally, resulting in his recent re-arrest:
“Court records also state that when agents from the Department of Homeland Security attempted to arrest Moreno at a parking lot in Williston, on January 27, Moreno fled in a vehicle, hitting three law enforcement vehicles before travelling at more than 100 miles per hour on a busy street before he was apprehended. As he drove, items were discarded from Moreno’s vehicle. Law enforcement recovered some of those items, which tested presumptively positive for cocaine base and cocaine.”
Vermont’s sanctuary policies – allied with such “reforms” as defunding the police, decriminalization, cashless bail, and lax probation standards – have seeded a crime spree that puts innocent citizens at risk. The alleged “sufferings” of illegals and the faux argument that Vermont must defy federal laws to “help the farmers” (another exploitation) is growing tiresome for voters.
Vermont farmers exploited by Progressives
The farmers exploited by Pieciak are mostly cow-milkers, of which there are now fewer than 600 in the state. These farms indeed depend on immigrant farm labor for arduous agriculture work, but that doesn’t mean all farm laborers are here illegally or that dairy farmers support protecting violent criminals.
One Vermont dairyman who operates a 1,500-cow farm in Irasburg –near to where Maland was slain — agreed to talk with Liberty Nation News. Like most Vermont dairies, his farm maintains all required legal paperwork for its immigrant workers. But this dairyman very much disagrees with Pieciak’s alarmist representations:
“Arresting dangerous felons is just returning to the way it was before the Biden administration. Over the decades, we’ve had people picked up by immigration, but usually, they are allowed to come back to work if they are not charged with violent or illegal activity. I only remember one person ever being kept in custody because he had a charge of some sort. But if one of them is guilty of dealing drugs or committing violent crimes, I want them to be arrested to keep our communities safe, same as any American citizen. Sure, I’m a dairy farmer, but I’m also a father and grandfather who wants my family safe.”
Violent Gangs Victimize Vermonters
Vermonters recognize what government progressives like Pieciak appear to find cognitively dissonant: not all “undocumented entrants” are victims. As Rep. Tom McLintock (R-CA) recently attested:
“[W]orst of all, among these illegal migrants have come the most violent, dangerous, and malevolent criminals and criminal gangs in the world, while sanctuary laws in democratic jurisdictions protect them as they prey on innocent Americans.”
Venezuelan felon Martinez does not appear to have been serving Vermonters by laboring on a dairy farm. Pieciak shamelessly invokes farmers as justification to resist ICE. As more Vermonters die from fentanyl traceable to organized gangs and open borders, the sober reality of the real victims becomes more evident. Pieciak will have to answer to the family and community of any Vermonter murdered or raped by an “unauthorized entrant” protected by government actors using taxpayer dollars. After all, he helped to create a sanctuary for violent criminals.
The author is a Brookfield resident, pastor, lawyer, former candidate for governor, the Vermont Senate, and publisher of Small Farm Republic on Substack.
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Categories: Border, State Government
So glad our elected officials are concerned about the safety of the Vermon tax paying residents. REMEMBER THIS the next election. Get rid of Balint especially. She is a disgrace. Is she a millionaire yet???
Probably only 1 or 2 millionaire…..she hasn’t been there that long.
Sorry Nancy, she will be elected over and over again because the people who vote for her are too stoopid to know that they are communists.
I would ask where these Vermont Elected Officials are getting their directives? The Democrat/Progressive Party Leadership? Their special interest donors?
Do they care what working Vermont Taxpayers want? Do they care at all about the lives and safety of Vermont Citizens?
This is a BIG PROBLEM in Vermont. Those elected to our state government offices follow their own Leftist Desires and Ideologies while there is Law and Order for the Taxpaying Citizenry. Can we pick and choose which Laws we want to submit to?
Let’s remember; ALL elected officials, local, state and federal work for “We the People” and it is our Constitutional Duty to hold them legally accountable. Let’s write to the Vermont Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General and Treasurer to ask why they are breaking our US Immigration Law.
Vermont Constitution, Article 6. [Officers servants of the people]
That all power being originally inherent in and co[n]sequently derived from the people, therefore, all officers of government, whether legislative or executive, are their trustees and servants; and at all times, in a legal way, accountable to them.
So why is this not illegal? Are they not aiding and abetting criminals? The illegals broke the law when they crossed into the US without permission. If I helped a criminal hide from law enforcement – I would be charged for doing so. Why are they not being charged? And this guy wants to run for governor? He is not the kind of leadership Vermont needs. Remember his actions against the citizens of Vermont come election time. Looks like there is still some cleaning to be done under the dome.
Hopefully, these crusaders for ” Illegal Aleins ” feel the full extent of the law, as they are criminals and your harboring them……………… hope you look good in Orange !!
We may need a full investigation of the treasurers office as to what damage all of this bonding is doing to the tax paying Vermont people and what pockets are getting greased. Vermont will not allow a bond default and you are on the hook for all state bonds. I would be looking for a money laundering operation pushing tax exempt bonds.
Thank you John. Very well written to note the difference between migrants working in Vermont and the ILLEGAL, and dangerous, immigrants. I am very concerned about the farm workers. I am familiar with one such farm, and both the farm owners and the workers benefit.
There is no doubt that if not for those workers the declining dairy farms in the state would dangerously disappear. One of the reasons is because barely any locals will do that job.
Gail,
I don’t have a problem with immigrants on a work visa, green card, white card and following the rules, One would think that our so-called Governor would be pushing his Senators on our ” Farm Worker Issue ” instead of worring about Elon Musk, but maybe there’s a reason to worry about what he’s finding !!
Border jumpers need to go home, I have worked with immigrants over the years, they all came here the correct way, and it a slap in there face to them, allowing these criminals to stay, as it shows our laws mean nothing to them.
As Law-abiding Vermont Taxpayers, I suggest we should all contact our United States Immigration Authorities to report our elected officials and our sanctuary state overall for the ongoing illegal activities and protections of the illegal immigrants in our state.
Getting calls from Vermont Citizens may bring legal accountability quicker.
The ICE Reporting Line is: 1-888-351-4024 (Monday – Friday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.)
Our fabulous Attorney General Pam Bondi had a press conference a couple days ago, she told the sanctuary states that they should comply with Federal Law “. . . and that’s who we were letting walk into our country and that’s why president Trump has directed this to stop and if you don’t comply with federal law we will hold you accountable we did it to Illinois strike one, strike two is New York, and if you are a state not complying with federal law you’re next, get ready, and the great men and women of law enforcement are standing behind me today we have FBI, DEA, ATF agents, they put their lives on the line every single day to protect us and what New York has, they have green light laws meaning they’re giving a green light to any illegal alien in New York where Law Enforcement Officers cannot check their identity if they pull them over, law enforcement officers do not have access to their background and if these great men and women pull over someone and don’t have access to their background they have no idea who they’re dealing with and it puts their lives on the line every single day, violent criminals gang members drug traffickers human Smugglers will no longer terrorize the American people and that is why we are here today you will be held account accountable if you do not follow federal law it’s over it ends and we’re coming after you, questions we have time for a few . . .”
Thank you Attorney General Pam Bondi and President Trump! Clean Up Vermont and America! Godspeed! The Peoples’ Mandate on November 5th will be done!
I am curious….Mr. Pieciak is the State Treasurer….does this webinar fall within the scope of his job and was it facilitated from his office during working hours? I could be wrong but I’m just not sure that tutoring the employers of illegal aliens on how to help them avoid ICE is part of the job he was elected to do. As a taxpayer I take exception to him possibly using his office/position, and our tax dollars in the form of his salary, to sermonize his personal beliefs on my dime. Anyone in the public sector would be fired for holding a non-work related webinar from their office on company time. I hope that the Legislative body, at the very least, will investigate Mr. Pieciak’s management of this webinar.
Dear Mike, Being in politics should come a level of awareness of Federal Law, since Vermont is still part of the USA. I refer to Federal Immigration Law – Title 8, U.S. Code § 1324. This law prohibits the transportation, concealment, and encouragement of unauthorized aliens in the United States. Your creations to obstruct Federal officers, and offer Illegal Aliens ways to avoid capture are wrong. Perhaps (if you continue) you can be a governor in a Federal prison. People who violate Federal Law and are found guilty go to Federal prison.
John, please never use the phrase “stacked completely with pro-immigrant partisans” in a negative light again. As a subject matter expert in immigration law, this paints conservatives as un-American. This is because the term “immigrant” itself implies the subject has secured legal status and was inspected and admitted by and immigration officer or appropriate designee at their time of entry- “Immigrants” are EXACTLY who we want here. To be “pro-immigrant” is a quality the Republican Party should be stressing as a patriotic attribute, not the opposite. Thank you.
oh and forgot to mention- a suitable (and legally accurate alternative according to the INA) would simply be “stacked with pro-ILLEGAL ALIEN partisans”. Thank you sir….
ICE TIP LINE- 1-866-347-2423; 1-866-DHS-2ICE, 24 hours, all submissions considered/investigated
Pieciak doesn’t know what PCR stands for, yet was an integral part of scott’s covid policy task force. Yeah, right, mike. Keep on keepin’ on.
It’s going to be funny when Pam Bondi gets to Vermont and sues them for their sanctuary status like New York. I can see the VDC headline now, Vermont A State With A Republican Governor Sued By The DOJ Over Sancturary Status. Poor Phil Scott. He doesn’t realize he’s the fall guy for the Commiecrats that put him into office.
Just an FYI…..I am a Vermonter who has worked as a Spanish tanslator on VT dairy farms in Franklin & Addison Counties and in the NEK for over a decade and I can tell you that the documents that the supposedly “legal” immigrants provide to their farmer bosses are not even close to legal. An inevitable business that springs up when you have illegal people around is the sale of fake documents. There are several sources that the workers use to get falsified SS cards and fake work visas (i.e. latinos in other states who devote themself to the creation and sale of fake IDs). They cost about $200 per document. How do I know? I have seen these documents arrive in the mail and I have also seen workers ask for rides to Western Union in order to send money to the ID dealers in order to get them…and I also ask a lot of questions!. I have also translated during countless orientations on farms in which the workers simply show the boss a PICTURE on their phone of said documents (whose fake hard copies are en route) and the boss accepts them and they move on. The farmers don’t ask a lot of questions-I am sure they don’t even want to know as I would guess it could make them an accessory? Anyway, of the literally 100’s of latino farmworkers I have encountered here in VT, I only know of ONE who has actual legal documents as he was born in CA. Obviously, no farmer is going to admit this, and understandably so given the potential repercussions from both ICE and the IRS.
I sure hope someone is tallying the costs of instituting this committee. Even if it’s volunteer, it is utilizing valuable time of our leaders and promoting an environment of fear instead of analyzing the many mistakes that Democrats made to get us here. The tone deafness and lack of self-awareness inside the party of the DNC continues to be astounding.