Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained a Mexican farmworker and prominent migrant rights activist in Vermont Thursday, according to a friend who was with him at the time.
Victor Diaz was about to enter Green Goddess Cafe in Stowe for a Mexican food event when two officers in plainclothes asked for his name. After he complied, they apprehended him, said Enrique Balcazar, a fellow organizer also from Mexico.
ICE released a statement late Friday saying that 24-year-old Diaz became an “enforcement priority” after he was convicted for a DUI last November. It described him as a citizen of Mexico and noted that he “will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.”
Balcazar said the agents, who showed badges, did not question him.
Originally from Chiapas, Mexico, Diaz has worked in Vermont for roughly six years and is currently employed at a dairy farm in Vergennes. He’s one of approximately 1,500 migrant workers in Vermont.
In 2014, Diaz left his job at a Ferrisburgh farm, decrying what he described as abysmal housing conditions for the workers on site. Accompanied by other Migrant Justice activists, he later returned to the farm to demand back pay from his boss. According to news reports, Diaz and several other ex-workers left that day with their checks.
Since then, he’s continued to advocate for farmworkers’ rights, helping lead the “Milk with Dignity” campaign, which is meant to pressure companies, including Ben & Jerry’s, to require that their supplier farms meet basic labor standards for migrant workers. His photo appeared in a New York Times story highlighting the effort.
Diaz’s case recalls that of Danilo Lopez, a well-known migrant rights activist who was pulled over by Vermont State Police and subsequently detained by ICE in 2011. Lopez successfully fought his deportation, with help from Vermont’s congressional delegation, winning the right to remain in the state in 2013.
Migrant Justice, which has quickly rallied around Diaz, went to Leahy’s office seeking a similar outcome. Leahy’s state director, John Tracy, came out to greet the group. “The senator is clearly concerned about this,” Tracy told them, noting that his boss has been a longtime advocate for immigration reform and “strongly feels that our scarce [enforcement] resources be focused on criminals, not on people who are abiding by the law or raising families.”
Tracy said that a member of Leahy’s staff had already spoken on the phone with Diaz’s lawyer, but Diaz will need to sign a privacy release for Leahy’s office to find out more about his situation. Tracy handed the form to members of Migrant Justice in case they see Diaz.
Friends and fellow activists hailed Diaz as a “human rights leader.” They declined to address his immigration status. “That’s a question we don’t actually focus on,” Balcazar told a reporter.
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Well, with all due respect, and not to sound too unsympathetic but there is a legal way to immigrate. If you enter this country otherwise, and hence illegally, then you are subject to arrest and possible deportation. We cannot select which laws we enforce and which we don’t.
Diaz was CONVICTED in November of DUI in Vermont Criminal Court.
Why did Seven Days see fit not to mention that important piece of information that most certainly would affect his current immigration status and make him a target for ICE? They don’t “Look the other way’ like the Vermont State Police are ordered to do by the current Administration.
Not only is Senor Diaz breaking US Immigration Laws and here ILLEGALLY to begin with he is now breaking, and being convicted of, Vermont Laws and putting Legal Vermonters in danger on the roadways..
Time to send him home.
There are legal ways to enter but our government does not make it easy. From the complex process, which requires a lawyer and thus $$$ to complete, to the endless delays and stall tactics, “missing” and “lost” paperwork, and a globally understaffed immigration service, we make doing the right thing almost impossible while whining all the time about those doing the wrong thing. We need immigration fixed!
Well so is okay for him and others to be exploited on bad work conditions?
Is that better? Or any of you out there ever had any mistakes.. sounds more like by him standing up for his rights and others is becoming a problem and is easier to put him away or better send him back ?
Is easier for anyone to judge .. hopefully none of you have been pit in a situation like this or have to choose to do things because you have no other way..
Is easier to talk the talk.. where is the compassion? I lived here 19 years Vermont is my home.. None of the people who are talking have no idea what is to live at the mercy of people who have power and take advantage of others..
If anyone out there went true what half of this people go true. Nome of you would be disrespectful..
“The senator is clearly concerned about this,” Tracy told them, noting that his boss has been a longtime advocate for immigration reform and “strongly feels that our scarce [enforcement] resources be focused on criminals, not on people who are abiding by the law or raising families.”
Message to John Tracy and Senator Leahy: Illegal Immigrants are criminals who have not and are not abiding by the law.
A couple of points:
1) To Chris in S. Burlington – you are incorrect. Violating immigration statutes is a civil offense. A person in the U.S. without authorization is not subject to any criminal charges or other punishment other than deportation.
2) To JimM – you are also incorrect. The article does in fact describe his DUI conviction and that he became a “priority” for ICE after that conviction.
3) To Df Dixon – again, check your facts. While it is possible for some people to go through the legal immigration process, it is an insurmountable obstacle for migrant agricultural workers across the United States. Feel free to Google immigration laws, visa requirements etc. You’ll find, with some research, that it is ridiculous to expect migrant farm labor to navigate the H2A visa program.
Yup the Vt liberals are all for the illegals.. it’s ok that they come here without doing it the legal way.. but nooo just turn your head, don’t ask.. WHICH IS WRONG.. it’s a slap in the face to the ones who come here the legal way.. who want to become a American citizen..Also to tell our law enforcement not to ask where the illegals are from, give them drivers license, but no need to have car insurance, not have to pay taxes.. what’s next, being able to vote??