Vermont Seeks Shelters for Immigrants

The White House recently asked Governor Peter Shumlin if Vermont can harbor immigrants fleeing their homelands in Central America. Vermont is one of several states being considered to host the immigrants – predominantly children from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.

Governor Shumlin’s office responded that the adminstration was “...willing to investigate locations and logistical requirements...to determine if Vermont would be an appropriate host state for some of the children who have crossed the border and are in custody.”

Currently, around 1,500 undocumented immigrants live in Vermont. Most of them – around 80% – work on dairy farms, shoveling manure or milking cows. The wave of immigrants crossing the border in recent weeks often meet up with family members, like the aforementioned farm hands, already settled in the United States.

The sites Vermont proposed to house the new immigrants vary in size and type, from the Vermont Technical College in Essex Junction to the Ethan Allen Cinema in Burlington. Although all of the proposed locations do not meet the Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) 90,000 square feet minimum, intended to provide adequate living space for the immigrants, it is unclear whether the requirement will change.

Both of Vermont’s Senators, Patrick Leahy (D) and Bernie Sanders (I), have advocated heavily for immigration reform. Although Leahy was far from enthusiastic about all of the amendments on the failed bill, he vowed to support it and said that “legislating is about making tough choices.”

“Vermont has a long history of supporting refugees in need,” said David Carle, a spokesman for Senator Leahy. “Governor Shumlin and his team reflect that history and that ethic, and Senator Leahy applauds the Governor for the state’s willingness to explore ways that Vermont may or may not be able to help.”

Historically, Vermont has been accomodating to refugees fleeing violence in Central America. In 1987, Vermont Refugee Assistance, now the Vermont Immigration and Asylum Advocates (VIAA) was founded to “support refugees fleeing civil wars in Central America.” The VIAA provides legal counsel to immigrants hoping to avoid incarceration or deportation, provides health assistance to survivors of torture, and “logistical and legal support” to refugees hoping to immigrate to Canada.

State Refugee coordinator Denise Lamoureaux stated that most refugees have adapted extrordinarily well to a climate and culture very different from their own. Still, “...all transitions require effort, flexibility and adaptation,” she warned Seven Days Vermont.

Other outreach workers warn that a combination of xenophobia and economic hardship could endanger the traditionally placid relationship between the immigrants and their host communities.

“We’ve been going through a long recession,” said Laurie Stavrand, an outreach worker for the Colchester-based Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program (VRRP) “and everybody has been trying to look out for themselves.”

For residents accustomed to living within hours of the Canadian border, the immigration issue can seem a world away. Yet racial tension in Vermont could actually be compounded by the state’s ethnic homogeniety; 93.7 percent of Vermonters are white, and only 1.7 percent are Hispanic or Latino.

The White House’s request for shelters comes on the heels of intense debate in Washington over immigration reform legislation, which Congress failed to pass before the midterm break. Although the Senate did pass the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (S. 744) in April of 2013, it will likely die in the GOP controlled House.

President Obama has come under heavy fire for failing to secure the southern border, which an estimated 60,000 children have crossed in recent weeks. The head of U.S. Border Patrol has said that Federal agents are inundated with the amount of immigrants, and are unable to fulfill their traditional anti-terrorist and anti-cartel roles.

The President had previously promised to sign reforms into law before the end of the summer, but abandoned the timetable Sunday. Republican leaders claim that Obama is avoiding the volatile subject until after the November elections to avoid endangering Democratic candidates.

After the elections, Obama has warned he will utilize executive action.

“In the absence of action by Congress,” stated President Obama, “I’m going to do what I can do within the legal constraints of my office, because it’s the right thing to do for the country.”

Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner said that “the decision to simply delay this deeply controversial and possibly unconstitutional unilateral action until after the election — instead of abandoning the idea altogether — smacks of raw politics.”