A Vermont dairy farm was raided. The mixed messages from Washington
since then have increased fears
[July 08, 2025] By
HOLLY RAMER and AMANDA SWINHART
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — After six 12-hour shifts milking cows, José
Molina-Aguilar's lone day off was hardly relaxing.
On April 21, he and seven co-workers were arrested on a Vermont dairy
farm in what advocates say was one of the state’s largest-ever
immigration raids.
“I saw through the window of the house that immigration were already
there, inside the farm, and that’s when they detained us,” he said in a
recent interview. “I was in the process of asylum, and even with that,
they didn’t respect the document that I was still holding in my hands.”
Four of the workers were swiftly deported to Mexico. Molina-Aguilar,
released after a month in a Texas detention center with his asylum case
still pending, is now working at a different farm and speaking out.
“We must fight as a community so that we can all have, and keep fighting
for, the rights that we have in this country,” he said.
Ryan Brissette, spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection,
said agents initially responded to a report from a concerned citizen who
saw two people carrying backpacks entering private farm property near
the Canadian border. Agents apprehended one person at the scene and more
during the ensuing search of the area, he said.
The owner of the farm declined to comment. But Brett Stokes, a lawyer
representing the detained workers, said the raid sent shock waves
through the entire Northeast agriculture industry.
“These strong-arm tactics that we’re seeing and these increases in
enforcement, whether legal or not, all play a role in stoking fear in
the community,” said Stokes, director of the Center for Justice Reform
Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School.
That fear remains given the mixed messages coming from the White House.
President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise to deport millions
of immigrants working in the U.S. illegally, last month paused arrests
at farms, restaurants and hotels. But less than a week later, Assistant
Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said worksite enforcement
would continue.
Asked for updated comment Monday, the department repeated McLaughlin's
earlier statement.
“Worksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of our efforts to safeguard
public safety, national security and economic stability,” she said.
[to top of second column] |
In this photo provided by migrant farmworker José Molina-Aguilar, he
works milking cows on a Vermont dairy farm on Friday, June 20, 2025.
(Courtesy José Molina-Aguilar via AP)
 Such uncertainty is causing problems
in big states like California, where farms produce more than
three-quarters of the country’s fruit and more than a third of its
vegetables. But it’s also affecting small states like Vermont, where
dairy is as much a part of the state’s identity as its famous maple
syrup.
Nearly two-thirds of all milk production in New England comes from
Vermont, where more than half the state’s farmland is dedicated to
dairy and dairy crops. There are roughly 113,000 cows and 7,500
goats spread across 480 farms, according to the Vermont Agency of
Agriculture, Food and Markets, which pegs the industry’s annual
economic impact at $5.4 billion.
That impact has more than doubled in the last decade, with
widespread help from immigrant labor. More than 90% of the farms
surveyed for the agency’s recent report employed migrant workers.
Among them is Wuendy Bernardo, who has lived on a Vermont dairy farm
for more than a decade and has an active application to stop her
deportation on humanitarian grounds: Bernardo is the primary
caregiver for her five children and her two orphaned younger
sisters, according to a 2023 letter signed by dozens of state
lawmakers.
Hundreds of Bernardo's supporters showed up for her most recent
check-in with immigration officials.
“It’s really difficult because every time I come here, I don’t know
if I’ll be going back to my family or not,” she said after being
told to return in a month.
Like Molina-Aguilar, Rossy Alfaro also worked 12-hour days with one
day off per week on a Vermont farm. Now an advocate with Migrant
Justice, she said the dairy industry would collapse without
immigrant workers.
“It would all go down,” she said. “There are many people working
long hours, without complaining, without being able to say, ‘I don’t
want to work.’ They just do the job.”
___
Ramer reported from Concord, N.H.
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