Thread: Deportations leave farmers working long hours

http://www.boston.com

Deportations leave farmers working long hours
July 23, 2006

CORINTH, Vt. --Charlie White, his wife Elaine and their son Elijah are working long hours these days, even by farmers' standards, and worry that their former hired man Jose Zacarias may have no work at all.

Zacarias and his wife Rosa had lived and worked at the Whites' small dairy farm for 18 months, milking the 185 Holsteins and helping out with other chores -- work that many farmers say most Americans won't do these days.

All that ended last month, when, after a couple of weeks of watching the farm with binoculars, federal agents swept in and arrested the Mexican couple, sending them to separate detention facilities and leaving their two small children behind.

The 29-year-old Zacarias is among an estimated 2,000 Mexican immigrants who have come to work on Vermont farms. Most effectively operate underground, rarely leaving the farms that employ them. Zacarias made the mistake of registering a car in Vermont. The government found him by checking motor vehicle records.

Zacarias wanted a car because, "He wanted to be an American. That's what did him in," Charlie White said. "It seems like we're saying it's OK for these people to be here if they're kind of under the radar. If they're willing to live in this country and not have their wife and children here, it's OK."

Federal authorities don't see it that way. They say it's only effectively OK for illegal immigrants to be in the country until they're caught. They're especially after people who've been deported before, or who have criminal records. Both Jose and Rosa had been deported twice before.

"I'm sending a message that if you are removed from the United States and you come back to New England, we're going to be looking for you," said Bruce Chadbourne, field director for detention and removal operations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New England.

"And if you have a criminal record, then we're going to try to prosecute you for re-entry," Chadbourne added. "We're trying to establish this deterrent."

Elaine White said she didn't see a need to make what the Zacariases had done criminal.

"I don't know anyone of us who lived in a country where we made four dollars a day ... who wouldn't try to get to a better situation. In my mind, that's the only crime he committed," she said.

The Zacariases were caught in a national crackdown called Operation Return to Sender. Federal authorities say 2,100 illegal aliens were rounded up, many with long arrest records for violent crime.

What looked like a successful law enforcement sweep to the authorities looked more like a personal tragedy on the Whites' hill farm. They initially got no help from immigration authorities in their efforts to reunite the Zacarias children with their parents, and were able to do so only with the help of staff in the office of Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

Elaine White ended up driving the two children to Logan Airport in Boston, so they could fly home to Mexico with their parents. When she got to the airport, she "handed Emily to her mother and took Ricardo to his dad. It was a very happy, emotional reunion, with all of us crying," she recalled.

Information from: Vermont Public Radio, http://www.vpr.net

He wanted to be an American. That's what did him in," Charlie White said. "It seems like we're saying it's OK for these people to be here if they're kind of under the radar.

No, Charlie, that's what you're saying, because you want cheap labor.

If they're willing to live in this country and not have their wife and children here, it's OK."

That's right. They're supposed to be (wink, wink, nod, nod) guest workers. That means they're only going to be here temporarily, then they go home (I know, I can barely keep a straight face typing this myself).

Something is missing in this story.

Sounds like Elaine White volunteered to keep the kids, until mama and papa were almost gone!

Dixie

They are part of the problem. They want cheap labor that attracts more illegals. It ultimately hurt all Americans. Who's paying for the social programs, schooling, taxes ect...! 75 billion dollars in social services.

Round up all of the employers and put them in jail! Everyone who hires illegal workers is a criminal.

Now put farmer on the watch list. He is obviously are repeat offenders.

Why wasn't the farmer arrested? I could be wrong, but I get the impression he knew his hired help was illegal.

Well if you paid the wages you should have been paying you would not be in this situation. Dirtbags. You reap what you sow, Ha Ha!!!!!

Buy or invent more machines!!!