MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) \u2014 After six 12-hour shifts milking cows, Jos\u00e9 Molina-Aguilar’s lone day off was hardly relaxing.<\/p>\n
On April 21, he and seven co-workers were arrested on a Vermont dairy farm in what advocates say was one of the state\u2019s largest-ever immigration raids.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw through the window of the house that immigration were already there, inside the farm, and that\u2019s when they detained us,\u201d he said in a recent interview. \u201cI was in the process of asylum, and even with that, they didn\u2019t respect the document that I was still holding in my hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must fight as a community so that we can all have, and keep fighting for, the rights that we have in this country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese strong-arm tactics that we\u2019re seeing and these increases in enforcement, whether legal or not, all play a role in stoking fear in the community,\u201d said Stokes, director of the Center for Justice Reform Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School.<\/p>\n
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<\/a> at farms, restaurants and hotels. But less than a week later, Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said worksite enforcement would continue.<\/p>\n Asked for updated comment Monday, the department repeated McLaughlin’s earlier statement.<\/p>\n \u201cWorksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of our efforts to safeguard public safety, national security and economic stability,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n