Adams, NY, Mar 31, 2011 — Federal agents raided a Jefferson County dairy farm yesterday and arrested the farmer, a week after one of his Hispanic employees died in an apparent accident. 47 year-old John Barney of Adams is charged with harboring illegal immigrants. Todd Moe reports.  Go to full article

Burlington, VT, Jul 01, 2010 — Last December, Jose Obeth Santiz Cruz of Mexico was killed when his shirt got caught in a machine on a Vermont dairy farm. The incident renewed concerns over Hispanic farmworkers in the dairy industry who are in this country illegally. An estimated 1500 work on dairy farms in Vermont. Hundreds more work in northern New York. A farmworkers' rights group helped return Santiz Cruz' remains to his family in Chiapas, Mexico. The Vermont Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project made a documentary about their journey. It's called "Silenced Voices" and debuts tonight at 7 at the Black Box Theater in Burlington. Brendan O'Neill teaches English to Hispanic farmworkers in Vermont. He co-directed the documentary and spoke with David Sommerstein.  Go to full article

Feb 04, 2009 — Coming off a whirlwind tour of New York State, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is scrambling to get settled in to her new job. Her spokeswoman, Rachel Mceneny, says a transition that usually takes three months is happening on the fly. Senator Gillibrand made sure to sit down with Hispanic lawmakers in New York City over the weekend. They were outraged by her conservative stances on immigration when she was Congresswoman. Gillibrand has already done an about-face on some of those issues. Immigrant groups are cautiously optimistic. Conservatives in her old district are taking a wait-and-see attitude. David Sommerstein reports.  Go to full article

Oct 02, 2008 — With the presidential race and the financial crisis, the issue of immigration has faded from the headlines. But the problem hasn't gone away. Farmers rely on foreign laborers to harvest their crops and milk their cows. Millions work on farms illegally. We've reported extensively on Mexicans and Central Americans working on North Country dairy farms without legal papers. Today we look at a federal program that allows farmers to hire foreign labor legally. Orchards in the Champlain Valley have hired foreign pickers for years. But dairy farms aren't eligible, at least, not yet. So in the North Country, just one crop farm uses the program. David Sommerstein reports from Childstock Farms in Franklin County.  Go to full article

May 15, 2008 — Literacy of Northern New York is seeking volunteers to teach English as a second language classes. The not-for-profit is trying to keep up with a growing number of military and academic spouses and farmworkers who want to learn English in Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties. Deborah Tate runs the organization's ESL program. She told David Sommerstein the students come from all over the world.

You can volunteer to be a tutor by calling 782-4270 in Jefferson and Lewis counties, and 265-0194 in St. Lawrence county.  Go to full article

Jan 29, 2008 — Agriculture is one of New York's biggest industries, generating more than $3 billion annually. Once a reliable mix of dairy, orchards, and row crops, farming in New York is changing fast, with new opportunities and challenges. The state is building a wholesale market in New York City to connect downstate consumers with Upstate farms. A new office of organic produce is trying to help farmers' meet the growing demand for healthy, locally-grown food. And New York is investing in biofuel research. Meanwhile, farmers have been thrust into the middle of the illegal immigration debate, fearing raids on their increasingly Hispanic workforce. A plan to ban open burning statewide would force farmers to find new ways to throw out their bale wraps and other plastics. David Sommerstein sat down recently with Agriculture Commissioner Pat Hooker to look at the farm agenda for 2008. Hooker came to state government last year after more than a decade representing the industry as the New York Farm Bureau's policy director. He says he's very excited about the promise of alternative energies and biofuels for farmers...  Go to full article

Nov 19, 2007 — The state agriculture department is trying to figure out how many Hispanic immigrants work on New York farms. The agency wants to persuade the federal government to act on immigration issues. David Sommerstein reports.  Go to full article

Jun 06, 2007 — This week, we've been hearing the stories of a group of New York dairy farmers. In January, they traveled to a tiny mountain town in Mexico, where many of their milkers and farmhands come from. They wanted to better understand why their employees come thousands of miles to New York for work, and what that means for the immigration debate. Yesterday, we heard young Mexican men saying they wanted to work in the United States to make money. But eventually, they planned to return to their homes in Mexico. Immigration statistics tell a different story - the longer immigrants live in the United States, the more they want to stay here. In part three of a three part series, David Sommerstein looks at how Hispanic immigrants are affecting rural communities in New York and what the future may hold.  Go to full article

Jun 05, 2007 — As Congress continues to craft ways to control immigration into the United States, the reality is that the allure of good paying jobs and a chance to improve one's conditions back home is hard to resist. In January, David Sommerstein traveled to Mexico with a group of New York dairy farmers. They went to a mountain town called Malacatepec, where names like Lowville, Carthage, and Utica are as familiar as they are here. Young men migrate South to North, leaving families behind, so they may one day come home to stay. In part two of a three-part series, David looks at their cycle of migration. One note: the dairy farmers in this series are identified by first name only to protect their farms and the Mexican immigrants who work there.  Go to full article

Jun 04, 2007 — In January, David Sommerstein traveled with a group of New York dairy farmers on a sort of reverse migration. They went to a tiny mountain town in Veracruz, Mexico, called Malacatepec. There, almost everyone has a family member who has worked or is working on a New York State dairy farm. The farmers wanted to better understand their new employees culture, economic situation, and what it all means for the immigration debate in this country. Here part one of a three part series. One note: the dairy farmers in this series are identified only by their first names to protect their farms and the Mexican immigrants who work there.  Go to full article