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Warrantless ICE raid worries local farmers

Apr 27, 2018 1:37 pm
Richard Moody reports in Columbia-Greene Media that local farmers are talking after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials last week arrested migrant workers without a warrant on a famr in Central New York. “We’re not worried because we go through the government H2A program,” James Story, of Catskill's Story Farms said. “But people are worried, even the guys [laborers]. Just because they have all the paperwork doesn’t mean they’re not going to be bothered.” The Bulich Mushroom Company in Catskill can’t rely on temporary migrants because the visa programs such as H2A don't keep workers around long enough, co-owner Mike Bulich said April 26. “If you have them [ICE] just showing up on your doorstep, no business would be happy about that,” Bulich said about the Rome, New York raid. “Agents coming onto farms is inexcusable,” said Jim Taylor, owner of Sunny Acres Farm in Athens, which has been family-owned for 120 years. “Some of these people aren’t undocumented and they’re here because this is the land of opportunity, as far as they can see.” Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a most-likely unenforceable cease-and-desist letter to ICE on April 25 because of the warrantless raid. Read the full story at HudsonValley360.com.