Border Patrol agents detained Yesenia Hernández and Esau Peche, two Vermont immigrants who were leaving a 13-mile Migrant Justice march demanding better working conditions for dairy workers:
Both Hernandez and Peche are actively involved with Migrant Justice, a group that advocates for undocumented farm workers in the state. Peche has been in Vermont about seven years, and Hernandez for about two years.
Brant says U.S. Border Patrol was unaware that the individuals had previously protested at an activist march earlier on Saturday.
More than one hundred activists and supporters marched 13 miles from the state capital to the ice cream factory to demand better wages and working conditions for dairy workers.
Many of the same protestors showed up Monday morning at a rally outside the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility where Yesenia Hernández is being held.
A Border Patrol spokesperson claimed that "the behavior, the way the car was being driven” gave immigration agents reasonable suspicion to stop their car. "I can't tell you the specifics on how the reasonable suspicion of illegal alienage was developed,” the spokesperson continued, “but they were on a road that approaches the international border in the area of East Franklin.”
Or maybe this is just another case of driving while brown?
Hernandez and Peche aren’t the only Migrant Justice leaders to have been arrested in recent months. In March, Enrique Balcazar and Zully Palacios were arrested by immigration agents in what their attorney calls a coordinated effort. Balcazar and Palacios were both released following pressure from the community:
The activists' attorney, Matt Cameron, says his clients were targeted for their outspoken activism on behalf of dairy farm workers in Vermont.
"They've been the target for some time of surveillance and targeting, and we know that they were the targets," Cameron said Monday. "There's nothing about Enrique that would set him apart other than outspoken advocacy for his community."
Immigration agents have already proven themselves to be vindictive when it comes to undocumented folks who speak out against Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda. Earlier this year, ICE arrested DACA recipient Daniela Vargas after she appeared at a press conference condemning deportations.