http://www.benningtonbanner.com/localnews/ci_4012928

Illegal immigrants face the law in Vermont

PATRICK McARDLE, Staff Writer
Bennington Banner


Wednesday, July 5
Editor's note: This article is the second in a three-part series exploring the significance of immigration and its effect on the area.

The difference between enforcing laws against illegal immigration and investigating people just because they stand out in a mostly all-white state is ... well, it's a good question.

It is one that Vermont attorneys who practice immigration law can't answer. They don't say authorities are engaging in the illegal practice of racial profiling, although as zealous advocates for their clients, lawyers may be expected to play the race card.

Instead, they just suggest something is different about Vermont.

Rutland attorney John Newman said he's found that Vermont vigorously enforces the nation's immigration laws.

"It doesn't happen anywhere else in the United States. ... It's the only state I know where there's real enforcement," he said.

While Vermont has not been at the center of the ongoing debate over immigration, it does share a border with another country, something it has in common with about a dozen other states. But attorneys here who defend immigrants in Vermont say it isn't always business as usual.

Because Vermont is a small state, it's much easier to enforce immigration laws than it would be in a larger state, according to Leslie Holman, an attorney whose Burlington firm, Holman Immigration, covers nothing but immigration.

"For instance, if the INS decided to go into every ethnic restaurant in Boston, that may be something they don't have the time, manpower or inclination to do. But in Vermont, it's a lot more possible," she said.

In addition, the Border Patrol can set up checkpoints within 100 miles of the Canadian line; thus there's more enforcement in Vermont than there would be in Connecticut or Massachusetts.

Police say they are color blind when dealing with those suspected of being illegal immigrants. But in a state where, according to the 2000 U.S. Census, about 97 percent of the population is identified as white, Hispanics may stand out as potential immigrants ... and therefore potentially illegal immigrants.

Holman, who testified before the Vermont State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in Montpelier in March, said she thought it was hard to determine whether immigrants are being racially profiled.

"I don't know how you answer that in a state like Vermont where anyone who is an immigrant tends to stick out," she said.

Vermont is the second least ethnically diverse state in the nation. That means immigrants won't "blend in," Holman said. But she doesn't attribute the differences in enforcement in Vermont to racial profiling. To Holman, the size of the state plays a much bigger part. For example, Holman described a man she represented who was in the country on a student visa.

"He was watched, and his status was fine; there were no problems ... but when he went out of status, within 24 hours, the INS had someone at his door. That wouldn't happen in another state," she said.

The man had married an American woman by then; yet he was still arrested and put into the immigration detention system, even though he was "just waiting for a piece of paper," Holman said.

Know their neighbors

To Newman, the "transparency" of Vermont makes it a different place for immigrants. In small towns people know their neighbors and where they live. If someone who appears to hail from southern India or Jamaica applies for a driver's license, the motor vehicle clerk is likely to know whether a correct address is given.

Holman said there are also advantages to living in a smaller state. Lawyers in Vermont have access to custom agents.

"In Boston, the immigration office may have 5,000 phone calls from 5,000 angry attorneys, and they're just not going to return all those calls," she said.

But there are also fewer lawyers in Vermont for immigrants in trouble. Newman said he is contacted by people all the time, because he's about the only lawyer in the southern part of the state who practices immigration law.

But because he doesn't practice the kind of law that helps people in the country illegally, he tells them they should probably try to find someone in Boston. That's because that is where they'll probably be by the time a lawyer can be found.

"The likelihood is that they will be whisked out of the state within 24 hours, because there are no permanent lockups available," he said.

Holman said another reason immigrants leave the state so quickly is because there are no immigration courts in Vermont. Defendants must go to Boston, Pennsylvania or Connecticut.

Another problem illegals face is that they're typically poor, Newman said. Although some lawyers take pro bono cases, many are reluctant to work for free. Those who do want to handle asylum cases, not the typical "in the country to pick up agricultural work" case, he said.

But even if the immigrant has a lawyer who's willing to foot the bill, Newman said it's rare that lawyers can help someone in the country illegally.

"They'll say, 'Yes, they'll have to wait for amnesty, or they'll have to go back to their home country and apply for status. ... There's not too much you can do, even with money," he said.