Trump voters in Vermont didn’t expect the ICE raids to hit home—now they’re stuck milking cows at 4am with no help in sight

Dustin Machia, a fifth-generation dairy farmer from Sheldon, Vermont, cast his vote for Donald Trump in the last election, drawn by promises to tackle illegal immigration. “We had a border problem,” Machia remarked. “We don’t want bad people in here. We don’t need the drugs and the gangbangers.”

However, recent events have left him feeling betrayed. “All the dairy farmers who voted for Trump were under the impression they weren’t going to come on farms and take our guys,” he said. “It’s happening more than we’d like. It’s scaring the farming community and we’re like, ‘This wasn’t supposed to happen.’”

The unease stems from a series of high-profile deportations of migrant farmworkers in northern Vermont. Last month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents detained eight Mexican men at Pleasant Valley Farms, Vermont’s largest dairy operation, located about 20 miles east of Machia’s barns. Two weeks prior, another Mexican national, Arbey Lopez-Lopez, was detained while delivering groceries to workers at the same farm.

Federal immigration authorities assert they are not targeting Vermont’s $3.6 billion dairy industry, responsible for 63 percent of New England’s milk production. Yet, the recent arrests have led many in the sector to question how it would function without its undocumented labor force.

“Migrant workers are essential to the dairy industry in Vermont, New England, and the nation,” said Vermont Secretary of Agriculture Anson Tebbetts. The recent law enforcement actions have created “tremendous anxiety” for everyone in the industry, he noted.

“I think our farmers are concerned about the well-being of their workers. That’s foremost,” Tebbetts added. “They’re also concerned if (the workforce) was to go away, who’s going to do the work? Who’s going to milk the cows?” Despite the relatively small immigrant population in Vermont, they play a crucial role in the state’s dairy industry. As farms have consolidated, requiring more hired help, economic pressures have kept wages low.

Since 2013, about half of the state’s dairy farms have closed, according to the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets. However, the number of cows has remained steady. During the same period, the number of cows per farm has increased by 79 percent. Currently, there are 35 operations in the state milking at least 700 cows, including Pleasant Valley and Machia & Sons Dairy. “The workload on these farms is intense,” said Jackie Folsom, a former dairy farmer and president of the Vermont Farm Bureau. “And we are not able to find locals who want to work on farms anymore.”

According to the University of Vermont, 94 percent of dairies in the state that hire outside help employ migrant labor. This equates to an estimated 750 to 850 workers, mostly from Mexico, along with 150 partners and children.

While another 500 farmworkers, primarily from Jamaica, obtain seasonal agricultural visas to work legally in Vermont’s apple orchards, berry farms, and other operations, there is no applicable visa for year-round dairy work.

“To replace your whole milking crew every 10 months is not a thing,” Machia explained. “It takes months to train these guys up. It wouldn’t work.”

Machia employs around 25 people year-round, including 11 migrants. Like many Vermont farmers, he said he’s careful to follow the law and asks each worker for documentation required by state and federal governments. It’s not his responsibility to verify the accuracy of the paperwork.

After the arrests on April 21 at Pleasant Valley, federal officials stated they were not seeking out undocumented workers. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson Ryan Brissette, the officers were responding to a tip from a concerned citizen that two people carrying backpacks had emerged from the woods onto the farm, which is less than three miles from the Canadian border. After one fled, the officers searched the property and detained the other men.

“Claims that this was a raid targeting farm workers (are) false,” said Hilton Beckham, assistant commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, adding it “was not a special operation or a worksite enforcement operation.” Regardless, the outcome is the same, according to Brett Stokes, an attorney representing the eight Pleasant Valley workers. Though none had criminal records and most had family in the area, he said they have been rushed through removal proceedings with little opportunity to defend themselves.

“No matter what your position on immigration is, these are folks who were working, paying their taxes, and providing an essential service to an essential industry in the state of Vermont,” said Stokes, who runs the Center for Justice Reform Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School. Amanda St. Pierre, a co-owner of Pleasant Valley, declined to comment, other than to say her family was focused on supporting its employees and maintaining operations.

According to Will Lambek, an organizer for the Vermont advocacy group Migrant Justice, the enforcement actions extend beyond Pleasant Valley. “We’ve seen a vast increase in the calls we’re getting about people getting detained in Vermont,” he said. “Most of these stories don’t make headlines. They’re not publicized. And most of them end in deportation.” This has led many migrant workers to stay confined to their farms, especially those near the Canadian border, where Border Patrol officers have expanded authority and are frequently present on roads and in towns.

Dan Baker, a research professor at the University of Vermont, noted that his surveys of dairy workers show they already faced significant stress due to social isolation and fear of deportation, among other factors. “And this was prior to the current immigration crackdown,” he said. “What those detentions did was remind everyone to be scared and to feel vulnerable.” On a farm not far from the Canadian border, one undocumented worker told the Globe he was going into town less frequently to avoid unnecessary risks. He asked to be identified only by his nickname, Chepe.

“Everything they’re doing is just about trying to instill fear in the community,” Chepe said through an interpreter, sitting in the living room of the trailer where he lives. “It’s all about trying to make us afraid.” Like many migrant dairy workers, Chepe works 12 hours a day, six days a week, starting at 4 a.m. He left Mexico eight years ago seeking financial stability and sends money home to his children, whom he hasn’t seen since.

Chepe has become an organizer with Migrant Justice and credits the group with improving working conditions on his farm. It has also helped Vermont enact policies such as making it easier for noncitizens to obtain driver’s licenses, restricting collaboration with federal immigration authorities, and providing COVID relief funds for immigrants.

He said he had been feeling safer and more secure in the U.S. — until Trump was elected again. “Now it’s like going back to the dark ages,” he said. Despite the risks of leaving the farm, Chepe attended two recent protests in the Burlington area — advocating for the release of the Pleasant Valley workers and for better working conditions. “I think it’s crucial that we’re united right now, all together, fighting against an oppressive system that’s trying to instill fear in us,” he said. “We need to keep raising our voices and fighting for our rights.”

Despite his concerns about the immigration crackdown, Dustin Machia says he doesn’t regret voting for Trump. “I’d still do it again. I like a lot of his policies,” Machia said. “I feel he’s more for the rural people like us, the middle-class type person.”

Sources:

https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2025-04-22/state-leaders-decry-arrests-of-eight-migrant-farmworkers-at-berkshire-dairy-pleasant-valley

https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2025-05-08/vermont-agriculture-secretary-dairy-farmers-concerned-migrant-farmworker-arrests

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