This past year has been one of the most difficult in the history of Migrant Justice. The Trump administration has escalated attacks on immigrant rights, brutalizing and terrorizing communities across the country. The assault is taking place in the courts, through policy changes, and in the streets. **Support immigrants organizing to stand up to Trump’s attacks. Donate to Migrant Justice today!** Vermont has not been exempt from this onslaught: we have seen a **tenfold increase in detentions and deportations in the state** since the inauguration. Over one hundred people in our community have been detained by ICE and Border Patrol through dozens of workplace raids, home arrests, and racial profiling traffic stops. Each detention is a person traumatized, a family separated, and a community terrorized. But this is not simply a story of suffering. **As attacks on immigrants have grown, so too has the community’s strength and resilience**. At great personal risk, Migrant Justice leaders continue to organize for human rights. Cristian Santos, speaking at a rally over the summer, issued a courageous call for resistance: _“While ICE patrols the streets, they would have us cower in our homes, terrorized into submission. But_** _we will not allow this government to criminalize us, detain us, and separate families. No human being is illegal._**_What is illegal is the dehumanization and criminalization of human beings. We are not alone, we are all part of the struggle for justice and dignity, and we must all move forward together.”_ Migrant Justice has prepared for this moment with an **infrastructure for community self-defense**. We are reducing the risk of detention through extensive know-your-rights education, by providing accompaniment and support during court hearings and immigration appointments, and by creating a statewide rapid response network. This past year, we held dozens of trainings around the state, building a network of over 1,300 allies ready to mobilize to the site of immigration detentions. When community members are detained, Migrant Justice is on the front lines fighting for their release. Through public campaigns and collaborations with legal partners, **we have won freedom for immigrants in detention** – farmworkers Max and José, father and son Guadaulpe and Emanuel, community leaders Nacho and Heidi, and many more – bringing them back home to their family and community. Following his triumphant release after weeks in detention, Nacho addressed supporters: _“Because you fought for our freedom with your whole hearts, I am back with you and in my community. Together we grow stronger every day. Join with Migrant Justice and fight for our rights. Sí se puede!”_ **Migrant Justice is not just fighting back; we are pressing forward.** **Remarkably, in this time of unprecedented attacks, we have won new protections for immigrant rights in Vermont**. This legislative session, Migrant Justice crafted a proposal to combat discrimination and create more housing opportunities, built a statewide coalition to support the bill, and provided powerful testimony to lawmakers. Despite fierce resistance from landlords, banks, and anti-immigrant legislators, we won. In June, the **Housing Access for Immigrant Families proposal was signed into law**. These groundbreaking protections took effect on the same day as Vermont’s **Education Equity Act** , won through a Migrant Justice campaign the year before. Through this law, immigrant students at Vermont colleges and universities now have access to the same tuition rates and financial aid as their classmates, **putting higher education within reach**. Heidi Perez, detained alongside her stepfather Nacho just one week after graduating from high school, had been one of the principal leaders behind the bill’s passage. From prison, she penned an op-ed in newspapers across the state about the law and her dreams for higher education. Now freed from detention after a mass community campaign, Heidi is accomplishing her dreams – and taking advantage of the hard-fought rights guaranteed by the law she helped pass – as a freshman in college. Meanwhile, the Milk with Dignity Program – created by farmworkers to improve labor and housing conditions – continues to transform the dairy industry. **Milk with Dignity is set to expand** through an agreement with organic brand Vermont Way Foods to launch a new dairy line. And we are poised to extend the groundbreaking successes of Milk with Dignity into the construction industry through the **Building Dignity and Respect Program, creating labor protections for hundreds of construction workers**. These victories have not been easy, and they would not have happened without the support of thousands of donors like you. We know that the attacks will continue to escalate in the coming years, but with your support, Migrant Justice will remain a beacon of hope in dark times. **We invite you to join us in preparing for the struggles ahead by making a donation to Migrant Justice today.** _p.s. sustainable foodservice packaging company_ _World Centric_ _has generously offered to match all Giving Tuesday contributions, up to $15,000. Donate now to double your impact!_ * * * For over 20 years, World Centric has been a leader in sustainable, compostable foodservice packaging, committed to doing business differently. While we operate as a for-profit company, our heart beats with nonprofit values, guiding every decision toward sustainability and environmental responsibility, with 25% of our profits supporting grassroots initiatives that empower communities and drive positive change for a better world.

The recent call-in day to Hannaford headquarters was a big success! Hundreds called the office of president Mike Vail, leaving messages demanding Milk with Dignity. Throughout the campaign, thousands of supporters have made calls to the grocery chain to show their support for farmworker rights. Mike Vail isn’t the only one feeling pressure this week. His bosses at Hannaford’s parent company – multinational Ahold Delhaize – are feeling the heat, too, thanks to a new blockbuster exposé in news journal _De Correspondent._ The article pulls back the curtain on the shocking labor abuses in Hannaford’s dairy supply chain, revealing that the $100 billion Dutch company (nearly three times bigger than Dutch institution Heineken, for example) is getting rich off labor practices that would be illegal in the Netherlands. **Let’s keep the pressure on! Join farmworkers on the picket line 11/15 at Hannaford stores across Vermont: 10am in Morrisville, 1pm in South Burlington, and 4pm in Middlebury!** The in-depth article in _De Correspondent_ outlines the human rights violations endemic to dairy farms supplying Hannaford Supermarket – subminimum wages, mandatory unpaid overtime, unsafe housing and working conditions, even forced labor – and quotes farmworker and Migrant Justice leader Olga on the fight for dignified working conditions: _“Sometimes I'm at the point where I want to give up and go back [to Mexico]. But we've worked so hard here to be seen and recognized as a community. We succeeded, and now I want to stay and fight for better working and living conditions for me and my daughters…. We don’t have the luxury of giving up.”_ The article outlines Migrant Justice’s efforts to bring Hannaford into the Milk with Dignity Program, including the filing of an international human rights complaint through the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development this spring, which has led to an ongoing investigation for potential violations of OECD guidelines. It also gets Ahold on the record for the first time with the company’s specific objections to Milk with Dignity. The latest excuse from the $100 billion multinational corporation? Milk with Dignity’s “significant financial obligations.” Despite there being no fixed program costs – the premium companies pay is calculated based on the costs needed for farms to achieve compliance with the program’s Code of Conduct – Ahold is now crying poor. Even as the company enriches its shareholders with annual billion dollar stock buybacks, it claims that the costs of complying with farmworkers’ fundamental human rights are too high. **Read the article in De Correspondent (make sure to use your browser’s translation function!), then join farmworkers on the picket line on 11/15!**

On November 15th, farmworkers will lead pickets of Hannaford Supermarkets across Vermont, urging customers not to shop at the picketed stores. Today, campaign supporters are calling the company headquarters to show their support for farmworkers and demand Milk with Dignity. Throughout the campaign, thousands have called Hannaford President Mike Vail to urge the company to protect farmworker rights. These calls – and the pressure put on the company by farmworkers and consumers organizing together – are having an impact. Add you voice and make a call today! **If you missed the announcement about Saturday’s day of action in Morrisville, South Burlington, and Middlebury, read it now and make a plan to join farmworkers on the picket line!**

The past few weeks have seen some big advances in the Milk with Dignity campaign. Following the new agreement with Vermont Way Foods, pressure continues to mount on Hannaford Supermarket to get with the program. This spring, Hannaford’s parent company Ahold Delhaize conceded to years of farmworkers’ courageous denunciations of abuses in the company’s dairy supply chain by commissioning an independent human rights investigation. Migrant Justice recently hosted the investigators charged with looking into labor violations, connecting them with workers on farms supplying Hannaford-brand milk. Farmworkers were unanimous in calling on the company to address systemic human rights violations by joining the Milk with Dignity Program. The investigators now head back to Europe to submit their report to the company. Farmworkers have made the case for Milk with Dignity to Hannaford’s human rights investigators – and they continue to make the case to Hannaford’s customers. On Saturday, 11/15, farmworkers will lead a mass day of action, picketing three stores across Vermont. Past pickets have resulted in hundreds of Hannaford customers turning away, leading to significant drops in store sales. On November 15th, workers will be back in the streets, calling on customers to stand in solidarity with the demand for Milk with Dignity. **Stand with farmworkers on Saturday, 11/15. Join the Milk with Dignity pickets of Hannaford Supermarket in Morrisville (10am-12pm), South Burlington (1-3pm), or Middlebury (4-6pm) – or come along for all three!** The case for Milk with Dignity has never been clearer. Francisco, a worker on a Milk with Dignity farm, recently provided testimony about his experience: _The Milk with Dignity Program is really important because it guarantees access to paid vacation and sick days. We don’t have to worry about working when we’re sick, so we can rest without worrying about our paychecks. If we’re injured at work, we have paid time off to heal. We have a good home that meets our needs. The Program monitors to ensure that everything is running smoothly, and we get a raise every year._ _I used to work on a farm outside of the Program, and the difference is night and day. Outside of the Program, our rights as workers aren’t respected, and we didn’t have the same benefits that I have now. Everyone should have the benefits guaranteed by the Milk with Dignity program so we can live a dignified life._ **Join Francisco and farmworkers on the picket line on 11/15, and help spread the word by sharing our posts on****instagram****,****facebook****, and****twitter****!** p.s. In the run up to the big day of action, we will hold a national call-in day to Hannaford headquarters on Wednesday, 11/12. Sign up to contact campaign supporters and help drive calls to Hannaford!

On August 27th, undercover ICE agents pulled over Guadalupe and Emanuel in their painter’s van in South Burlington, VT. Even though the agents were looking for someone else, they detained the father and son, sending them halfway across the country to a detention center in Michigan. Thousands of you sprang into action, signing petitions and marching to denounce the arrests and call for their release. And the community support worked! Last week, an immigration judge ordered Guadalupe and Emanuel’s release. After six weeks behind bars, the two are now back in Vermont with their family and community. Migrant Justice is organizing not only to free those in detention but to prevent ICE arrests before they happen. This week we held rallies on back-to-back days to support two community members – Guatemalan farmworker leader Wuendy Bernardo and Ugandan pastor and healthcare worker Steven Tendo – with appointments at the Vermont ICE office that could have led to their detention. Neither person was detained, and Wuendy won the reprieve from deportation that she has fought for for years! Despite these heartening victories, the attacks on immigrant communities continue to escalate. Migrant Justice has documented dozens of ICE and Border Patrol arrests across Vermont so far this year – resulting in the detention of nearly 100 people – and this is likely just a fraction of the full number. Each detention and deportation represents a person traumatized, a family separated, and a community terrorized. The movement needed to oppose the escalating encroachments on human rights in Vermont and across the country is bigger than any one organization. That’s why Migrant Justice has joined with community groups and labor unions to plan the Vermont People’s Summit, a daylong conference of panels and workshops, to build our collective power. **Join us on Saturday, October 25th, from 10am-7pm in Winooski for the People’s Summit!** p.s. Following the exciting recent announcement that Vermont Way Foods has joined the Milk with Dignity Program, the campaign for Hannaford Supermarkets to follow suit continues to pick up steam. Save the date 11/15 for the next Milk with Dignity day of action!

On October 3rd – the anniversary of the launch of the Milk with Dignity Program – we shared an exciting announcement. After years of behind-the-scenes work, local brand Vermont Way Foods premiered a new dairy line sourced in partnership with Milk with Dignity! **Did you miss the photo-report from the Milk with Dignity announcement? Check it out!**! The collaboration brings a new dairy company into Milk with Dignity and represents the Program’s expansion into organic dairy. Vermont Way Foods cheese will be wholly sourced in partnership with the Milk with Dignity Program and will be the first product on the market bearing the Milk with Dignity label. The announcement has been making waves in the dairy world and hitting the headlines. The local NBC News affiliate noted “Vermont Way Foods partners with Migrant Justice to promote organic dairy,” while the region’s largest newspaper, _The Addison Independent_ , ran an article titled “Milk with Dignity program expands with cheese product.” Coverage was syndicated nationally to Yahoo! News and MSN. Check out the selection of coverage of the Milk with Dignity expansion below: Attendees at the Middlebury event got their first taste of the “Cheese with Dignity” line. Products will soon be sold at stores across the region. Stay tuned for more information!

Farmworkers and dairy entrepreneurs gathered on October 3rd in Middlebury, VT to celebrate a partnership between dairy workers and Vermont Way Foods. The local, organic produce brand will soon launch a new cheese in collaboration with Migrant Justice’s Milk with Dignity Program. The “Cheese with Dignity” line will be sold at stores around the region. As part of the agreement between Vermont Way Foods and Migrant Justice, conditions in the product’s dairy supply chain will be monitored for compliance with worker-defined labor standards. The Program’s Code of Conduct sets standards for wages, hours, health & safety, and housing conditions, and creates enforceable protections against discrimination, retaliation, and violence. Vermont Way Foods will pay a premium to invest in improved farmworker wages and working conditions. Catherine Cusak, speaking for Vermont Way Foods, opened the event: “Vermont Way Foods was founded to call attention to the integrity and intention of Vermont farmers and foodmakers, and we are thrilled to be expanding that message to include farmworkers’ rights by joining Migrant Justice’s Milk with Dignity Program.” The forthcoming cheese will be the first product bearing the Milk with Dignity label. It also marks the Program’s expansion into the organic market. The Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont played a key role in connecting Vermont Way Foods and Migrant Justice. Dairy worker and Migrant Justice leader Maribel spoke about the benefits she has experienced since her farm’s enrollment in the Milk with Dignity Program. “I want all farms to become part of Milk with Dignity so that every worker can benefit from the same rights and protections I have today.” The celebration and product tasting fell on the eighth anniversary of the Milk with Dignity Program’s launch. In 2017, Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream became the first company to join Milk with Dignity, committing to source its milk from farms enrolled in the worker-driven human rights program. At the event, Cheryl Pinto, Global Head of Values Led Sourcing at Ben & Jerry’s, welcomed Vermont Way Foods as a fellow Milk with Dignity participating company. “It [feels] so good to be coming here to celebrate our 8-year anniversary with Milk with Dignity, and to welcome Vermont Way Foods to the family that supports all of this incredible work that the farmworkers have really driven to make Vermont this pioneering state that sets an example for the rest of the country.” Dairy worker and Migrant Justice leader Olga Cruz ended the event with a call to action: “We created Milk with Dignity to build a more equitable dairy industry, one that benefits workers, farmers, and companies. More companies should follow Vermont Way Foods’ example and join the Milk with Dignity Program.” The assembled farmworkers and Vermont Way Foods representatives then signed the agreement marking the company’s commitment upholding dignified conditions in its supply chain and supporting the expansion of Milk with Dignity. Following the speaking program, the dozens of gathered supporters – including elected officials and representatives of Vermont’s congressional delegation – got the first tasting of the cheese, soon to hit shelves around the region!

In our last post, we shared with you news about an exciting partnership with Vermont Way Foods to expand the Milk with Dignity Program. In the coming months, cheese bearing the Milk with Dignity logo will be sold in stores around the region. This coming Friday – the eighth anniversary of the first agreement with Ben & Jerry’s – we will be celebrating the partnership with a pre-launch product tasting! The entrance of a new company into the Milk with Dignity Program highlights the continued failure of Hannaford Supermarket to take responsibility for abuses and human rights violations in its dairy supply chain. As one of the largest dairy buyers in the Northeast, Hannaford has a tremendous opportunity to drive positive change in the industry by joining the Milk with Dignity Program. **Join with campaign supporters today to call Hannaford and demand Milk with Dignity. Make your call now!** Throughout the day, hundreds of Milk with Dignity supporters will flood Hannaford’s phone lines urging the company to join Milk with Dignity. Over the course of the campaign, Hannaford has received thousands of calls in solidarity with the human rights of farmworkers. These calls – along with thousands of customer emails; endorsement letters from faith communities, shareholders, and civil society organizations; and dozens of farmworker-led protests – have forced Hannaford to make important concessions. Feeling pressure from workers, consumers, and investors, Hannaford’s parent company commissioned an independent investigation into human rights conditions in its dairy supply chain. This is a welcome step, but we won’t be satisfied until the company takes concrete action. The farmworkers behind Hannaford-brand milk have not only documented the abuses in the company supply chain, they have presented the solution: the worker-driven MIlk with Dignity Program. **Make your call to Hannaford today, then – if you haven’t already! – join thousands of others signing the Hannaford Consumer Pledge.** Together we can fight for a future where all workers’ rights are protected and where everyone can live and work with dignity. * * * End of day update: over 250 calls made!

On October 3rd, 2017 dairy workers and corporate executives at Ben & Jerry’s joined together for a historic occasion. After years of farmworkers urging the global ice cream brand to join the Milk with Dignity Program, the two sides signed a contract in front of the company’s flagship scoop shop. This represented the first time that a dairy company entered into an agreement with the farmworkers in its supply chain and led to the launch of the Milk with Dignity Program. The past eight years have been nothing short of transformative. Following the agreement, 100% of Ben & Jerry’s dairy supply chain has enrolled in Milk with Dignity, totaling 20% of Vermont’s entire dairy industry. Hundreds of farmworkers have benefited from the Program’s worker-defined rights, and millions of dollars have been invested in higher wages and benefits. For the first time, dairy workers have won enforceable protections against harassment, discrimination, child labor, forced labor, violence, and retaliation. Farmworkers, farmers, and companies have worked together to bring a new day for human rights in dairy. In an exciting development, through a new partnership with Vermont Way Foods, Milk with Dignity is set to expand! Co-owned by four non-profit food hubs across the state, Vermont Way Foods has brought locally-grown, organic produce to a regional market since 2022. The brand is soon to launch a new cheese, to be found in stores this fall. Vermont Way Foods cheese will be wholly sourced in partnership with the Milk with Dignity Program and will be the first product on the market to bear the Milk with Dignity label. The collaboration – supported through the tireless efforts of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont – also represents Milk with Dignity’s expansion into organic dairy. Join us in Middlebury, VT at 11am this Friday, October 3rd, on the eighth anniversary of the Milk with Dignity Program, to celebrate the new partnership and get the first pre-launch tasting of the new cheese before it hits the shelves at stores around the region. Following a press conference, the celebratory, family-friendly event will feature home cooked Mexican food, music, and Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. See you there!

Guadalupe and Emanuel Diaz are imprisoned in an immigration detention center after being pulled off the street by ICE in South Burlington, VT. On August 27th, plainclothes agents pulled over the father and son while driving the van of the painting company where they work. Even though ICE was apparently looking for someone else, Guadalupe and Emanuel were detained and are now facing possible deportation. Guadalupe Diaz and his son Emanuel migrated to the U.S. from their hometown in Chiapas, Mexico as farmworkers. Guadalupe worked on several dairy farms across Vermont before he and Emanuel moved to Winooski to work for a local painting company. Their employer writes that the two are “vital to the success of my business.” In their time in Vermont, both have organized with their community for human rights through their involvement with Migrant Justice and their participation in the Milk with Dignity campaign. The night before their detention, Emanuel celebrated his 19th birthday with friends and family at the Champlain Valley Expo. He and his father now find themselves behind bars in a detention center in Michigan, where ICE is moving to deport them. But the two are fighting their case. After weeks in detention, they have the possibility of winning their release. The ICE detention of Guadalupe and Emanuel is just one of dozens of immigration arrests carried out across Vermont since the start of the Trump administration. While ICE and Border Patrol have surveilled, detained, and deported immigrants in the state under previous administrations, detentions and deportations have reached unprecedented levels in recent months – and are continuing to escalate. Since the inauguration, Migrant Justice has documented nearly three dozen ICE and Border Patrol actions in Vermont, resulting in the detentions of 77 people. These are only the cases where the organization has been directly involved in supporting detainees and their families; the list represents just a fraction of the overall number of detentions in the state. * 1/25 Ecuadorian asylum seeker detained by ICE in Burlington * 2/7 Ecuadorian construction worker detained by ICE on his way to work * 2/9 Venezuelan family detained by CBP after mistakenly driving to the Canadian border * 2/22 Mexican man detained in the street while looking for work * 2/24 Ecuadorian construction worker detained by ICE at a gas station in Burlington * 3/10 Mexican farmworker detained by CBP in Derby * 4/4 3 workers detained outside the DMV in S. Burlington by ICE * 4/9 Arbey Lopez, a Mexican father, detained in Enosburg while delivering food to farmworkers * 4/14 Mohsen Mahdawi detained by ICE at an immigration appointment in Colchester * 4/21 8 Mexican farmworkers detained in their homes at a dairy in Berkshire * 4/22 Two Haitians detained by CBP while trying to request asylum in Canada * 5/15 Four Peruvian landscapers detained while driving home from work * 5/19 Ecuadorian father detained on his way to work * 5/22 Two Mexican farmworkers detained on their way to their milking shift * 5/24 Two Guatemalan sisters detained by ICE while leaving their home in Colchester * 5/28 11 construction workers detained at a worksite in Newport * 6/1 Honduran man detained by ICE * 6/8 Ecuadorian asylum seeker detained by ICE in Burlington on his way to work * 6/14 Migrant Justice leaders Nacho and Heidi detained in Richford while delivering food to farmworkers * 7/26 Mexican father of three, in US for over 30 years, pulled over and detained by CBP while on vacation in VT * 7/27 Ecuadorian roofer detained by ICE while driving home from the store * 7/30 4 Ecuadorian construction workers detained by CBP coming off the Lake Champlain ferry on their way to a worksite * 8/2 3 Mexican workers detained at a lumber yard in Essex * 8/4 Mexican farmworker pulled off a tractor and detained by CBP in Berkshire * 8/8 Nicaraguan asylum seeker pulled over and detained by ICE * 8/12 3 men detained by ICE at a bus station in Colchester * 8/19 9 Ecuadorian construction workers detained by CBP leaving a worksite in Barton * 8/25 Jamaican care worker and mother of three, Davona Williams, detained at her home in Manchester by ICE * 8/26 Guatemalan father of two detained in front of his home in White River Junction * 8/27 Peruvian father detained by ICE in Rutland * 8/27 Mexican painter detained by ICE in front of his house in Winooski * 8/27 Guadalupe and Emanuel pulled over and detained by ICE in South Burlington Guadaulpe and Emanuel are among the latest in a long string of detentions. Each represents an abuse of human rights and a lifelong trauma for those taken off the street, out of their homes, and from their workplaces. Most who are detained are deported under the radar and without due process. Yet some, like Guadalupe and Emanuel, have the possibility of winning their release and stopping their deportations. **Guadalupe and Emanuel must be freed! Sign the petition to tell the immigration judge to release the father and son, so they can return to their family and community in Vermont.**

The Milk with Dignity Summer Series is almost done, with one final action on 8/30 in Massachusetts. Throughout the summer, farmworkers and allies have picketed Hannaford Supermarkets across the Northeast, bringing the campaign to new parts of the region. We demand that Hannaford take responsibility for abuses in its dairy supply chain and join the worker-driven human rights program. **Stand with farmworkers on the picket line Saturday, 8/30 12-3pm at the Hannaford in Athol, MA (150 New Athol Rd) to demand Milk with Dignity!** To get supporters ready for the upcoming action, we are releasing a new video from the Milk with Dignity picket on International Worker’s Day. In the largest campaign action to date, thousands rallied throughout the day, holding a picket line from dawn to dusk and encouraging potential customers not to shop at Hannaford. The action was an overwhelming success: the picketed Hannaford store lost nearly 500 customers throughout the day, a drop in sales of over 25%! Pressure continues to grow on Hannaford Supermarket – and its Dutch-based parent company Ahold Delhaize – to take seriously the abuses in its dairy supply chain. At its spring shareholder meeting in the Netherlands, Ahold responded to questions from Migrant Justice by publicly committing to an independent “Human Rights Impact Assessment” of its Northeast U.S. dairy supply chain. That assessment is moving forward, as is an international human rights complaint filed by Migrant Justice with the Dutch government. While the campaign is progressing, now is not the time to let up the pressure. Watch the inspiring video from Mayday’s Hannaford action, then join us on the picket line on 8/30! p.s. The upcoming holiday weekend will have not one, but two actions for human rights! After the Massachusetts picket, join Migrant Justice in a Labor Day march and rally in Burlington, VT on 9/1 1pm!

Nacho and Heidi are free! After nearly a month behind bars following an unjust and illegal Border Patrol detention, they are back where they belong: with their family, their community, and in the struggle for human rights. This tremendous victory is the direct result of people power. Together, we stood up to Trump’s machinery of mass deportation. Thousands of you wrote to ICE denouncing the arrest, and hundreds of you turned out to demand their release. From an emergency protest at the Border Patrol barracks on the day of their detention, to rallies at the Vermont State House and the Federal Court, we said together: “Not one more deportation!” On July 10th, an immigration judge ordered the release of Nacho and Heidi on bond. The following day, they walked out of the jails where they had been unjustly held for 28 days. At a joyous community celebration the following evening, they were greeted by applause, hugs, and tears. Nacho thanked those who had his back while he was in detention: _“I am free thanks to all of you and to the entire immigrant community that was supporting us from day one. Because you fought for our freedom with your whole hearts, I am back with you and in my community. Together, we grow stronger every day. Join with Migrant Justice to fight for our rights. Sí se puede!”_ Heidi echoed her stepfather’s message and added a commitment to continue to fight for others: _“The people united will never be defeated. Because we came together, we achieved this great victory. Migrant Justice will continue fighting to stop these injustices, because nobody deserves to go through what we went through.”_ Heidi and Nacho are not the only ones targeted by ICE for detention and deportation. On Monday, Wuendy Bernardo must return to the Vermont ICE office, where she is at risk of being detained and separated from her family. Hundreds have joined her at previous check-ins to let ICE know that we stand with Wuendy. **Join Wuendy on Monday, July 21st at 10am at the Vermont ICE office (64 Gricebrook Rd, St. Albans, VT) to say once again: Not one more deportation!**

Heidi and Nacho have won their freedom and will soon be released, after nearly a month behind bars. The two Migrant Justice leaders received hearings in immigration court today, resulting in a judge granting them bond and ordering their release. On June 14th, Nacho and stepdaughter Heidi were delivering food to farmworkers in Franklin County, VT when they were pulled over without cause by officials from the U.S. Border Patrol. Agents smashed their car window and violently detained the two community leaders. Represented by the Center for Justice Reform at the Vermont Law and Graduate School, and the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, Nacho and Heidi challenged the constitutionality of their detention in federal court while simultaneously contesting their removal in immigration court. After a federal judge delayed a decision to release them earlier this week, the two filed bond motions in immigration court, leading to today’s rulings. This result would not have been possible without the hundreds who took action at protests across Vermont denouncing the detentions and the thousands who sent messages to ICE demanding their release. Rossy Alfaro, mother to Heidi, partner to Nacho, and leader in Migrant Justice celebrated the outcome: _“Today, we showed that our unity makes us strong. We won't be defeated. And every day, the Migrant Justice community grows even stronger. Together, we will continue to fight to ensure that injustices like the one my family is suffering from won't happen to others. We won't allow our families to be separated."_ Bond has been paid with the support of the Vermont Freedom Fund and the two are expected to be released to family and community supporters shortly. Please make a donation to the Vermont Freedom Fund to ensure they have the funds to keep bailing people out!

Community leaders Nacho and Heidi were violently detained by Border Patrol while delivering food to local farmworkers. Agents stopped over without cause, smashed their window, and pulled them out of their car. For the past two weeks, they have been unjustly held in detention. On July 7th and 8th, both will have their first hearings in federal court to challenge their unlawful detention and request immediate release. Outside, community supporters will gather to stand with Heidi and Nacho – and to stand up to ICE’s attacks. **Join us in front of the Federal Courthouse in Burlington, VT (11 Elmwood Ave) on Monday 7/7 and Tuesday 7/8 at 2:30pm. Rally to free Nacho and Heidi!** The detention of Heidi and Nacho – and ICE’s efforts to deport them – coincides with a landmark week for immigrant communities in Vermont. On July 1st, two new laws took effect. They are the result of years of courageous and tireless organizing led by Nacho, Heidi, and their community to advance the human rights of immigrants in the state. The Education Equity Act, passed last year and now taking effect, guarantees in-state tuition rates and need-based financial aid at public colleges and universities for all Vermont students, regardless of immigration status. Through this law, higher education is now within reach for immigrant Vermonters – including Heidi herself. As a student at Milton High School, she was one of the principal campaigners for the law. Heidi graduated just days before being detained and is planning on attending Vermont State University in the fall. The Housing Access for Immigrant Families Act, signed into law just two days before Nacho and Heidi’s detainment, prohibits discrimination in housing and public accommodations based on immigration and citizenship status. Under the new law, landlords will no longer be able to require applicants to provide a Social Security number. This law provides some of the strongest protections in the country and will increase access to quality and dignified housing for immigrant families in Vermont. Nacho had fought for the passage of the Housing Access law, helping to lead the campaign in the State House and providing emotional testimony to lawmakers. Describing his family’s difficulty finding stable housing, Nacho spoke of staying up during summer nights in an unregulated attic apartment without electricity, desperately fanning his newborn baby to keep him from overheating. A longtime dairy worker and current worker-owner at construction cooperative New Frameworks, Nacho addressed lawmakers: _“Whenever I finish building a house, I take great pride knowing that because of my work, a family will now have a roof over their heads…. It is my sincere hope that the homes that we are building will one day be accessible for our own community.”_ Nacho and Heidi must be released so they can return to their family and community. They deserve to live freely and benefit from the rights and protections that they have helped bring about through their courageous leadership. **If you haven’t yet, send a message to ICE to free Nacho, free Heidi, and stop their deportations**

After this spring’s breakthroughs in the campaign inviting Hannaford Supermarket to join the Milk with Dignity Program, we are taking the campaign on the road. Migrant Justice is announcing a series of pickets this summer to expand the reach of the Milk with Dignity campaign. Join farmworkers at a Hannaford near you for the Milk with Dignity Summer Series! **The Milk with Dignity Summer Series kicks off Saturday 6/28, 11am-3pm, in Plattsburgh, NY (7 Pyramid Drive). Join farmworkers on the Hannaford picket line!** The farmworker-led picket of Hannaford Supermarket last month on International Worker’s Day was the largest and most impactful yet. Thousands rallied throughout the day, holding a picket line from dawn to dusk and encouraging potential customers not to shop at Hannaford. The action was an overwhelming success: the picketed Hannaford store in Williston, VT lost nearly 500 customers throughout the day, a drop in sales of over 25%! Migrant Justice is now looking to take the show on the road, holding pickets of Hannaford stores in areas that have yet to see a Milk with Dignity action. Starting in Plattsburgh, NY in June, moving down to Glens Falls, NY in July, and ending in Athol, MA in August, the Milk with Dignity Summer Series will ensure that Hannaford continues to feel pressure from farmworkers and consumers, even as its parent company Ahold Delhaize opens a dialog with Migrant Justice. Farmworkers continue to fight for Milk with Dignity, even as the community comes under increasing attacks from the federal government. Two weeks ago, José Ignacio “Nacho” De La Cruz and Heidi Perez were unlawfully detained by Border Patrol; last Friday, Wuendy Bernardo was told to report to ICE, where she feared detention and deportation. All three have been leaders in the Milk with Dignity campaign and frequent participants at Hannaford pickets over the years. Even as we rally together to defend farmworkers from government repression, we must continue to press forward in the fight for human rights in the dairy industry! **Can’t make it to any of the Summer Series pickets? Support from afar by signing and sharing the Consumer Pledge! Thousands have pledged their solidarity with farmworkers – add your name today!** p.s. Heading to Saturday’s picket from Vermont? Join a caravan to drive together! Meet at the Migrant Justice office (179 S. Winooski Ave, Burlington) at 9:15am or at the Grand Isle dock of the ferry to Plattsburgh for the 10:05am ferry.

On June 16th, less than two days after the violent and unlawful detention of Nacho and Heidi, hundreds gathered in front of the Vermont State House in an emergency rally demanding freedom for the Migrant Justice leaders. In an emotionally-charged event, loved ones spoke out against the government’s cruel separation of families as chants reverberated through the streets of the state capital: “Nacho, Heidi, no están solos!” You are not alone! **Since Saturday’s detention, over 5,000 have sent a message to ICE demanding freedom for Heidi and Nacho! Take a minute to sign and share!** After being pulled over by Border Patrol agents while delivering food to local farms, Nacho and Heidi were detained without cause. As the two exercised their right to remain silent and questioned the legal authority for the stop, agents broke their car window and pulled them out of their vehicle. Border Patrol’s own statement admits that agents did not have any information about the community leaders’ nationalities or immigration histories prior to their detainment – a blatant admission that their actions were motivated by little more than racial profiling and an abuse of authority. Nacho and Heidi’s brave defense of their rights in the face of violent intimidation by armed agents has allowed them to bring the Trump administration to court. With a legal team led by the Center for Justice Reform and Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, the Migrant Justice leaders have filed a petition to challenge the constitutionality of their detention. The legal strategy is already having an impact: Vermont’s federal court has already accepted jurisdiction over the case and forbid the government from transferring Heidi and Nacho out of state! At the rally, speaker after speaker highlighted Nacho and Heidi’s fearless leadership advancing the struggle for human rights in Vermont, from winning protections from police discrimination, to expanding access to higher education and housing, to campaigning for Milk with Dignity. At just 18-year-old, Heidi’s impact as a young leader was on full display when Regina, a 10-year-old member of the Migrant Justice community, said through tears: “Heidi is an inspiration to me. When I grow up, I want to be just like her.” As we fight to free Nacho and Heidi from detention, we must take action to support all those at risk of deportation. Wuendy, a farmworker and Migrant Justice member, has fought for years to stop ICE’s attempts to deport her and separate her from her family. Despite a pending application for a “stay of removal,” Wuendy has been told to appear at the ICE office in St. Albans, VT on the morning June 20th for an appointment where she may be detained. Two months ago, 100 people accompanied Wuendy to her last appointment, and she walked out a free woman. **6/20 at 10am: show ICE that we have Wuendy’s back! Join us outside her ICE appointment (64 Gricebrook Road, St. Albans, VT) to say “not one more deportation!**

Two Migrant Justice leaders were detained by Border Patrol agents in Vermont on June 14th. Jose Ignacio “Nacho” De La Cruz was driving with his stepdaughter Heidi Perez in Franklin County when they were pulled over. Agents smashed their car window and violently detained the two community leaders. Both are now at risk of imminent deportation. Send a message to ICE to free Nacho and Heidi! Nacho is a prominent spokesperson for the state’s immigrant community, part of Migrant Justice’s Coordinating Committee, and for years has been at the forefront of struggles for human rights and social justice. A former dairy worker, he has led campaigns for workers’ rights in the dairy and construction industries and has been at the center of every immigrant rights legislation in Vermont in the past five years. A frequent presence at the Vermont State House, he recently testified in favor of the Housing Access for Immigrant Families proposal, which was signed into law by Governor Phil Scott two days before Nacho’s detention. Heidi Perez, Nacho’s stepdaughter and a passenger in the vehicle, graduated from Milton High School less than a week before her detention. At eighteen years old, she is a community leader in her own right. Heidi has led marches and rallies for Milk with Dignity and in 2024 spoke on stage at the Vermont Pride Parade. While a high school junior, she was a principal leader in the 2024 campaign to pass the Education Equity Act, ensuring access to higher education for immigrant students in Vermont. She is hoping to enroll in Vermont State University in the fall. Nacho and Heidi have a large family and community who have been traumatized by their detention. Take action now to demand their immediate release from detention and a stop to their deportations!

As U.S. Marines patrol the streets of Los Angeles to repress dissent against ICE raids, it is clear that attacks on immigrant communities and their defenders will continue to escalate under this administration. Vermont is not exempt from these intensifying attacks, yet despite the risks, immigrant communities refuse to be silenced. ICE and Border Patrol are surveilling, detaining, and deporting immigrants across the state. Immigrants are being arrested outside their homes, at work, or on the roads. Vermont jails are being turned into holding cells for immigrant detainees; over half of all bookings at Vermont’s women’s prison last month came from ICE. On June 8th in Burlington, armed ICE agents swarmed and surrounded an asylum-seeker, construction worker, husband, and father of a four-year-old son as he left for work in the morning. He is now in detention, at risk of being deported and permanently separated from his family. Last night, on June 10th, hundreds marched and rallied in Burlington in an emergency action in solidarity with the people of Los Angeles and all those resisting the criminalization of migrants. Migrant Justice leader Cristian Santos addressed the crowd: > _ICE is attacking and detaining our community in Vermont. While ICE patrols the streets, they would have us cower in our homes, terrorized into submission. But we will not allow this government to criminalize us, detain us, and separate families. Defending ourselves is not violence; it is a human right!_ Migrant Justice is building community power, not only to defend against ICE and Border Patrol arrests, but to push forward new rights and protections. For the last two years, we have led the fight in the legislature for Housing Access for Immigrant Families. The proposal was recently passed by the Vermont House and Senate and is now sitting on the Governor’s desk, poised to become law. Once signed into law, this proposal will provide some of the strongest protections in the country against housing discrimination. The law will ensure that immigrant Vermonters can’t be discriminated against in housing or public accommodations because of their immigration or citizenship status, and that landlords cannot require a Social Security number during the rental application process. Even as attacks against immigrants have intensified, Migrant Justice members have tirelessly organized, traveled to the State House to share testimony of housing discrimination, and bravely advocated for the bill’s passage. We have overcome strong opposition from landlords, banks, and bigots who protested the thought of being “forced” to rent to immigrant families. And we have shown that when immigrant rights are under attack, the community will not hide in fear but will stand up and fight back. **This Friday, June 13th, join us at noon on the steps in front of the Vermont State House to celebrate the passage of this historic legislation!**