Thread: VT-Charlotte, Vt., woman helps immigrant farm workers

Charlotte, Vt., woman helps immigrant farm workers
By Wilson Ring
May 13, 2009

CHARLOTTE, Vt.—Nancy Sabin was at a picnic hosted by a Charlotte dairy farmer several years ago when the workers discovered she could speak Spanish.

A few days later, Sabin, who grew up in Puerto Rico, got a call from a worker asking if she had any silverware. She did. Then people started asking her to translate and to find them jobs.

Now her answering machine is full of messages from Spanish-speaking men seeking work.

Sabin 70, says she plays a small role in keeping Vermont's dairy farms in business by helping them find immigrant workers who will do the job not enough Vermonters are willing to do.

"I find it appalling that the government is so stupid that they don't realize that this is a necessity," Sabin said.

"And please don't tell me that they're stealing jobs from hard-working Americans because they're not," she said. "No American in their right mind would want to work the hours that they work, 60 to 70 hours a week."

She serves as an unofficial social worker, keeping immigrants supplied with Mexican-style tortillas or helping them stay in touch with their families, taking them to the doctor or mailing packages to Mexico or Central America.

She emphasizes that she doesn't charge for her services.

When asked how she can afford to drive all across Vermont without charging, she answers, "Shall we say, I'm independently wealthy, which is not true, but that's all right.

"The only charity I have is my Mexicans. They're my boys. I love my boys," she said.

Sabin comes from a long line of Vermonters, but she was born "by accident" in Puerto Rico because her father was an international business executive.

Now, just about everyone in Vermont's dairy community knows of "Mama Nancy."

She regularly hears from immigrants and the farmers looking for workers, she said, but she screens farmers before sending them any workers.

"I have a natural knack of talking to you and finding out what kind of person you are," Sabin said. "If you pass my exam, then I will place somebody with you."

Sabin answers with a profanity when asked if she is afraid her activities could run afoul of federal immigration law and land her in jail. Her lawyer has told her to lay low, but she won't.

"I think this whole thing is funny," Sabin said.

One recent afternoon, Sabin visited a farm in Fairfield, dropping off a box of tortillas to two Mexican men living in a mobile home behind a large farm. One of them gave her a box to mail back to his family in the Mexican state of Chiapas.

The box included a DVD player, a pair of shoes and some clothing.

The 22-year-old worker was grateful for Sabin's periodic visits.

"She is an angel of God," he said of Sabin. "She looks out for us, she worries about us, she speaks for us."



http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermon ... atest+news

Too bad, Sabin doesn't share the same love for the good legal citizens of America. Illegals are not the underdog the American people are.........

This lady sounds like a nice person. But something is not right here. 10 or 15 years ago, I'm assuming before the illegals came, who did the work? Did those people who did it before move-on to other things, or die-off? Clearly farming is a difficult occupation, but can't there be some sort of incentive-program to get local people to help-out?

I wonder if these are corporate farms or family-farms in Vermont? That seems to be a big problem in many parts of the country. The family farms seem to have family members or local people to do the work. It's the corporate farms that cause the problems.

Ostrich

Sabin answers with a profanity when asked if she is afraid her activities could run afoul of federal immigration law and land her in jail. Her lawyer has told her to lay low, but she won't.

Hopefully this article will draw attention to "Mama Nancy" and the feds will get her for aiding and abetting illegal aliens. Her own quotes are admissions of guilt.

The lady has confessed her crimes, now go get her!

Oh, and get the employers that are hiring the illegals she is sending to them too.

Lady, you idiots are not comp rending the problem here....

they come in to do farm labor, then they are allowed to walk off the job and head out to do construction work, landscaping, cleaning etc.

Farms and dairies have been nothing but a back door for cheap labor that spreads through out other industries..

Single under educated American woman with children have always cleaned hotels for extra money to support their families....college kids have always been waitresses, or done seasonal work during school break....My granddaughter (High school) is a courtesy clerk for a major grocery chain...

STOP TELLING US AMERICANS WILL NOT DO THOSE JOBS...THEY WILL AND THEY DO!

When you have at least 20 million Americans out of work you do not keep bringing or letting people come in for jobs...it is madness, greed and its pitiful.