Thread: Mexican workers receive ID cards, passports in Vermont

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Mexican workers receive ID cards, passports

By Helen J. Simon
Free Press Staff Writer

July 30, 2006
FAIRFIELD -- Several dozen Mexican citizens turned out Saturday morning at the Fairfield Center School as their government set up shop to process documents aimed at helping identify them while they live and work in the United States.

Officials from the Mexican Consulate in Boston took over the school gym for several hours to process passports, birth certificates and "consular registration documents" small, laminated cards that include photos, place and date of birth, and U.S. address.

Increasing numbers of Mexicans have come to Vermont in recent years to work on dairy farms struggling to find labor.

Mexican Vice Consul German Murguia said he and his staff traveled to Vermont because it is too hard for his citizens to go to the Boston consulate to obtain passports and other documents that identify them as Mexicans.

This is the fourth time the consulate has come to Vermont since 2004, he said. The mobile consulate unit previously set up in Bridport and Swanton.

There are an estimated 1,200 Hispanic dairy workers in Vermont, many of them from Mexico, Dave Lane, deputy Vermont agriculture secretary, said Friday. Lane said he did not know how many Mexican farm workers in Vermont are illegal immigrants.

"They certainly provide a critical labor source for many of our medium and larger farms," he said. "They also provide an excellent quality."

Louise Waterman, education coordinator for the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, was in the gym Saturday helping ensure things ran smoothly.

Waterman said that while some of the workers visiting the school gym were in Vermont illegally, they were able to show their employers the legal documents required for them to work.

"Their legal status we don't ask that question," she said. "They have the proper documentation."

Murguia said the consulate's role was simply to help identify the workers as Mexicans.

"We never ask about their status," he said.

Many of the workers were brought by their employers, who stood around chatting while their employees' documents were processed.

Dairy farmer Tom Howrigan of Fairfield, who milks about 280 cows, said he had two Mexicans working with him and his two sons on his farm.

"The two I have are excellent workers," he said, adding that they are willing to work long hours so they can send money home to their families.

He said he was not able to find local workers to do the job, and estimated there were 150-200 Mexicans working in Franklin County.

"I guess it's an issue with some people," he said of dairy farmers having to hire Mexicans. "But if they want to keep farming alive ... those are the only people willing to do the job."

One of Howrigan's workers is Alberto Espinoza, 47, of the town of Comitan. He came to the consular mobile unit to obtain a passport and a consular registration document. He said he'd been working in Vermont for a little over a year and hoped to stay another three or so. He has a wife and four children in Mexico.

Vermont is beautiful and quiet, he said, and he hasn't had any problems.

"The only ugly thing is the cold," he said.
Free Press reporter Molly Walsh contributed to this report.

Cards are source
of national debate


Among the documents issued by Mexican consular officials working in Fairfield on Saturday were "consular registration documents."

Many Mexicans living in the United States have the small, laminated cards, and Mexican Vice Consul German Murguia said Saturday that his office has issued about 300 in Vermont since 2004.

Nationally there is a continuing debate about the cards. Critics say the cards are an attempt by the Mexican government to circumvent immigration laws and make it easier for illegal workers to live in the United States.

Critics also say the cards are held mostly by illegal immigrants because legal immigrants don't need them.

[hsi: Kerry Sleeper, Vermont Public Safety Commissioner/ Homeland Security adviser for Vermont, said he has mixed feelings about the ID cards and worries they may be misrepresented.

They are not a substitute for legal documentation to be in the United States, Sleeper said.

Sleeper said that while Vermont has fewer illegal immigrants than many other states, there are hundreds if not thousands in the state and the mobile consular event is indication their numbers are growing.

As in other states, many of Vermont's undocumented workers live in a legal gray zone -- working and living here freely unless they get into some kind of trouble or find themselves on the wrong end of selective enforcement of immigration laws.

Generally, immigration and customs officials have not been trying to identify illegal immigrants in Vermont unless they have criminal records or unless they have previous deportation orders against them, Sleeper said. "That's been the criteria that they use."

-- Molly Walsh

http://www.boston.com

Mexican consulate helps Franklin County workers
July 30, 2006

FAIRFIELD, Vt. --Mexico's government helped several dozen of its citizens who working at dairy farms in Franklin County get documents they need to identify themselves while they're in the United States.

Officials from Mexico's consulate in Boston spent several hours in the gymnasium of the Fairfield center School processing the passports, birth certificates and "consular registration documents" of the farm workers.

Vermont dairy farms have been struggling to find labor and increasingly have turned to workers from Mexico and elsewhere outside the United States. There have been increasing reports that the workers' lives have been difficult because they don't have adequate identification, possibly because some of them are in the country illegally.

The consulate decided to reach out to the Mexican citizens by taking its services to the communities where they're working instead of requiring them to travel to Boston, said Vice Consul German Murguia. The Faifield event was the consulate's fourth since 2004.

The Vermont Agriculture Agency estimates that there are 1,200 Hispanic dairy workers, including the Mexican nationals, said Dave Lane, deputy agriculture secretary.

"They certainly provide a critical labor source for many of our medium and larger farms," he said. "They also provide an excellent quality."

It's unclear how many of the Mexican workers are in the United States illegally, said Louise Waterman, an education coordinator for the Agriculture Agency. They have been able to provide the documents to their employers that are required.

"Their legal status we don't ask that question," she said. "They have the proper documentation."

The consulate does not know their legal status, either. "We never ask about their status," Murguia said.

Some people in Vermont's farm regions question the need for the foreign workers, but farmer Tom Howrigan said he and his neighbors have not been able to find people willing to do the work. He was at the school because he gave two Mexican men working for him a ride on the farm where he milks about 280 cows with his two brothers.

"I guess it's an issue with some people," Howrigan said. "But if they want to keep farming alive ... those are the only people willing to do the job."

We never ask about their status," he said.

Then what's the point?

Several dozen Mexican citizens turned out Saturday morning at the Fairfield Center School as their government set up shop to process documents aimed at helping identify them while they live and work in the United States.

I'm amazed that our federal government allows this sort of thing to continue. We know the people obtaining these cards are illegal aliens, why aren't we doing something about it? First off we should request the Mexican government cooperate in rounding up and deporting illegals. At the very least they could give us the records they have of Mexican nationals (illegals) living in our country. If Mexico is so interested in being a good neighbor, why not cooperate in ending this illegal activity (illegal immigration) vice feed fuel to the fire?