Migrant workers who are illegally working on dairy farms all over Vermont will be forced to continue living under the radar after the U.S. Labor Department failed to address their status in the new rule on seasonal agricultural workers. The Labor Department on Thursday announced new rules about the H-2A program, which allows farmers to hire foreign laborers for seasonal work. Dairy workers, who spend all year on the farm, have never been included in the H-2A program and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., has been urging the Labor Department to allow them into the program.

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A Vermont legislative committee is taking up the question of whether the state should apologize for a 20th century program to sterilize citizens who were labeled feeble-minded or criminal. Backers of the resolution say its harms fell disproportionately on Vermonters of Abenaki and French-Canadian heritage, as well as poor Irish and Italian immigrants.

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Coming to the United States from a foreign country can be hard for someone not familiar with the culture and the language. A local non-profit educational organization offers classes to help immigrants and those with work visas to ease into the community and learn English at the same time. "Vermont Adult Learning is often the first place they come after moving to the area," said Mary Ide, regional manager.

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Vermont is one of the few states without an up-to-date statute banning human trafficking. On Thursday, lawmakers set to work on creating one. "It's a really complex issue and one we don't know a lot about here in Vermont," Sarah Kenney, public policy coordinator for the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, told the Senate Judiciary Committee. "We definitely lack a comprehensive statewide plan for dealing with this issue."

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UVM History professor and Marshfield resident, Vincent Feeney, has combed through census records and historical accounts to piece together the history of Irish immigrants in the Green Mountain state, and the stories behind their communities and their lasting presence in the state.

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Buy "Finnigans, Slaters and Stonepeggers: A History of the Irish in Vermont"

Dozens of Vermont dairy farmers found themselves in the crosshairs of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Thursday when the agency rolled out its largest ever audit of employers in a crackdown on businesses shirking laws about employing foreign workers.

Reports Friday from the Addison County Migrant Workers Coalition and other farmers indicated that perhaps only four or five farms in the state would be issued subpoenas for employment records, though initial reports about the audits placed that number much higher. Link to full article

Vermont Public Radio reports that "the director of the Vermont State Police says recent crimes against undocumented farm workers in Vermont have led to a new policy that will allow illegal immigrants to report criminal activity without fear of arrest or deportation." Before the policy change, "state police questioned immigrant workers about their legal status when responding to a reported crime - which, in the past, has led to the arrest and deportation of undocumented workers."

"State Police enforcement of immigration laws has been a sore spot with advocates for Vermont's Mexican farm workers, and last year officials at the Mexican consulate in Boston said enforcement of immigration laws in Vermont was the toughest of all the New England States." According to Colonel James Baker, the director of the Vermont State Police, "State police are caught between their duty to enforce the law, and the federal government's lack of action on reforming immigration statutes to address the status of Vermont's Mexican farm workers."

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Vermont Public Radio reports that according to "new federal census data, the number of immigrants in Vermont declined from 2006 to 2007" and Vermont was "one of 14 states that showed declines in the estimated number of immigrants from 2006 to 2007." Meanwhile nationally, "the wave of immigrants entering the United States slowed dramatically last year as the economy faltered and the government stepped up enforcement of immigration laws." Indeed in 2007, "the nation added about a half million immigrants, down from nearly 2 million million the year before."

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Vermont Public Radio reports that "advocates for immigrant farm workers are hailing a decision by Vermont State Police not to investigate the immigration status of three farm workers allegedly assaulted and robbed earlier this month." This will be the first time the Agency has "confronted such a situation, and that it was decided solving the robberies was more important than pursuing any possible immigration violations by the victims." Notably, "there are an estimated 2,000 immigrant farm workers in Vermont, most from Mexico and many in the country illegally."

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The Burlington Free Press reports that "about 1,500 Bosnians resided in Vermont during the 2000 U.S. census, accounting for approximately 0.2 percent of Vermont's population -- the highest percentage of Bosnian immigrants in any state." Notably, many of these residents are closely following the upcoming United Nations war crimes trial of Radovan Karadzic, who alledgedly orchestrated the massacre of about 8,000 Bosnian civilians. Darko Vujanovic, who owns a cafe in Burlington and hails from Zenica, commented that the "trial would help edge Serbia back into the world community." He added, "The arrest of another rogue military commander, Ratko Mladic, would help even more."

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The Burlington Free Press reports that over the last 20 years, Vermont has welcomed refugees from Vietnam, Tibet, Bosnia, and Africa. Recently, Vermont began welcoming a new group of refugees -- the Karen (pronounced ka-REHN). The Karen "are a Southeast Asian ethnic group who have fled the military government in Myanmar by the tens of thousands for refugee camps in adjoining countries. The Karen have been "arriving in Vermont in rising numbers." Indeed, two Karen families transplanted to Vermont this summer. The families have been housed at the University of Vermont's Fort Ethan Allen apartments because of a rental housing crunch.

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Vermont Public Radio reports that "twenty-seven families of African refugees are going to be farming plots in Burlington's intervale" as part the New Farms for New Americans initiative. The program is in its first year and primarily targets unemployed women. "Officials say most of those who signed up to farm had some sort of agricultural experience in their home countries" and that "the women in the program come from Somalia, Congo, Burundi and Tanzania. The food raised in the gardens can be sold at farmers' markets."

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The Rutland Herald reports that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services holds 14 naturalization ceremonies in Vermont each year Vermont, "bestowing citizenship on 600 to 700 immigrants" annually. During a recent ceremony at Neshobe Elementary School in Brandon, Vermont, 40 immigrants became U.S. citizens. "The new citizens took an oath as a group foreswearing allegiance to any foreign power and promising to uphold the laws of the country before coming forth individual certificates. The ceremony featured patriotic songs and a recitation by local students of the preamble to the Constitution laced with a commentary on U.S. history."

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The Addison County Independent reports that Lincoln residents Tom Verner and Janet Fredericks "visited a dozen refugee camps and settlements in Iran [last month] with a delegation from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. While most of the group brought supplies or medical care to refugees displaced from their homelands by years or even decades of war, Verner and Fredericks came to entertain refugees with magic tricks and sleight of hand in performances for children." In 2001, the couple founded Magicians Without Borders. The organization has performed "in refugee camps, orphanages, schools and hospitals around the world, from India to Kosovo to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina." The couple "entertains partly to offer relief from the day-to-day problems of living in a camp, but also to bring hope for the future to people who probably don’t have much." After a recent show in Iran, one camp worker told Verner that she'd "never seen the children laugh like this in [her] six years working in [the] camp."

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The Burlington Free Press reports that last fall St. Michael's students launched a mentoring program that connects college students with Somali Bantu youth. As part of the program "once a week, nine Somali Bantu youths from three families and five St. Michael's students [spend] Thursday afternoons together." The program's activities have included "visiting the campus, picking apples and attending an Akoma drumming class."

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