Will immigration backlash affect Leelanau farmers?

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Migrant workers are backbone of harvest, despite current political climate … Photos by Gary Howe

By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor

During these busy summer days in the Leelanau fields, Marcelino sometimes feels as though he carries the weight of two migrant farmworkers. He once picked grapes, cherries and apples alongside 12-15 other workers, but this year there are only seven splitting their time between two small farms.

Marcelino, 43, has traveled north from Florida every spring for the last 27 years and returns to the citrus state each December. Despite fears of increased police presence along the way, he took the risk of driving north and arrived on March 1. During his 9 months in Leelanau County, he works 12-14 hour days. Particularly during the busy cherry harvest, which begins in July, and the apple harvest in the fall, he rarely sees his two daughters, ages 11 and 14.

“Sure I make more money, but physically the work takes its toll,” said Marcelino. “I have to work more hours because we are fewer workers this year. Others didn’t want to travel north out of fear.”

Federal immigration policies, and populist rage against America’s undocumented working class, have reached a fever pitch under the new administration in Washington, D.C. Moves to deputize thousands more Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, a 38-percent increase in ICE arrests, new federal policy that criminalizes all undocumented workers rather than only those who’ve committed violent crimes, pledges by local northern Michigan sheriffs to work closely with ICE, and anti-immigrant rhetoric from the White House — all these factors have migrants and Leelanau County growers worried.

Will they have enough workers in the fields—particularly come cherry season in mid-July—to harvest the crops? This is painstaking work that the year-round “local” community, time and time again, has been unable or unwilling to do, say the farmers.

The Department of Homeland Security now operates under an “expedited removal program” following a Feb. 21 memorandum from the White House. ICE agents can now forego a hearing before a judge and “fast-track” the deportation of migrant workers who have lived in the United States without documentation for less than two years. Under the Obama administration, the program only covered immigrants who were in the country illegally for less than two weeks and were caught within 100 miles of an international border. Migrants can now be arrested and retroactively tried and deported—even though unlawful presence in the country is not technically considered a crime, according to immigration attorneys (the crime is illegal entry).

The memorandum also gives local police agencies the option to train and act as ICE agents and arrest and remove “aliens who engage in criminal conduct”. Currently, no Michigan police departments officially participate in the program, though some local sheriffs have shown willingness to work with ICE. (At a Michigan Sheriffs’ Association biannual training, June 11-13, at nearby Crystal Mountain Resort, Benzie sheriff Ted Schendel recalled that all but one or two sheriffs from around the state showed willingness to work collaboratively with ICE on deportations.)

(Stay tuned for an interview in the Sun later this summer with Leelanau County sheriff Mike Borkovich about his thoughts on immigration enforcement, and working with ICE.)

The rising climate of fear has paralleled a heated political debate in northern Michigan and across the nation. At a contentious panel discussion in Benzonia on May 23 titled “Immigration Concerns in Benzie County”, Schendel pledged to assist ICE and the federal government, emphatically referring to the migrant community as “illegal aliens” to the chagrin of the immigrant-friendly crowd. The county to the south of Leelanau also relies heavily on migrant farmworkers to harvest crops. Earlier in the month, Schendel said his officers pulled over and arrested a driver who failed a sobriety test. The suspect had no U.S. driver’s license or valid passport; Schendel called ICE himself, and the federal agency picked up the detainee the following day. Migrant worker advocate Father Wayne Dziekan (who also spoke on the panel) said that sheriffs have no legal obligation to contact ICE, but are only required to comply with the federal agency if officers arrive with a specific judicial arrest warrant.

Despite rhetoric among some law enforcement officers that links undocumented immigrants to a rise in crime, Schendel concedes that this was the first time since he was elected Benzie sheriff in 2012 that an undocumented immigrant had been arrested by his deputies.

“Our protocol hasn’t changed since Jan. 20 (the date of the presidential inauguration),” Schendel told the heated crowd.

Fear within community

At the Benzie event, sheriff Schendel dismissed reports that the migrant worker community has reason to fear law enforcement. “I don’t know about fear, but there’s definitely a language barrier,” he said. “Speak the language and you won’t have to be afraid.”

But in farmworker communities throughout northern Michigan, people are afraid. Some are among the nation’s estimated 11 million undocumented workers; others are legally in the United States but have family members living in the shadows. For them, one ICE raid and deportation of a mother, father, sister or brother would disrupt life for their entire family, not to mention interrupt work in the fields.

Marcelino winces each time he has to tell his 11 and 14 year-old daughters that, if ICE shows up tomorrow and arrests someone in their family or their community, they must carry ahead with life, work and school. “Sigue adelante. Keep on going.” He looks in their faces and hopes to see perseverance rather than free.

Rosa and her husband Saturnino have migrated every spring for the last 27 years from southern Texas to work on a farm east of Lake Leelanau. This year they were stopped while en route by local police in Louisiana, but permitted to continue north.

“We’re always here from May until the end of October, working every day in the fields, picking and cleaning fruit,” said Rosa. “We work with the same people as before. But what has changed is there’s more racism, with this president and with the people. People see us now as ‘Mexicans’.”

Mexico native Adolfo Mendez owns T.C. Latino Grocery in Traverse City, a popular spot for migrant farmworkers to stock up on tortillas and other Latin American foods. His business is dependent on his immigrant clientele, he told the Traverse City Record-Eagle in early March (two weeks after the White House memorandum). “I have no idea what happens in two months,” Mendez said. T.C. Latino also receives occasional drive-by visits from unmarked U.S. border patrol vehicles.

The political climate, and the risk of arrest and deportation while on a routine run to the gas station or the grocery store, prompts many to stay home. That has both a social and economic impact on the larger community. According to Marcelino, some migrant workers don’t leave their camp for a month at a time, but pay others with U.S. citizenship or valid visas to visit the grocery store and shop on their behalf.

“What we’re hearing everywhere is the workers are afraid they’ll get nabbed if they go to a grocery store or visit a big box store,” said Leelanau farmer Jim Bardenhagen. “Some are considering moving back to Mexico and then applying to go to Canada to work, where there’s no waiting list. Canada is encouraging people to come.”

Fear of deportation may also be stopping entire families from traveling north to work. Carolina Tabora Cortez, a family service specialist at the Bear Lake Migrant and Seasonal Head Start program in Manistee County reported seeing fewer young children (ages 0 to 5) of migrant farmworkers enrolled in childcare and preschool services this year. The program typically enrolls 25 or more children; only 15 are enrolled this year.

At an April 5 panel discussion at the Leelanau County Government Center organized by the Leelanau League of Women Voters, county prosecutor Joe Hubbell tried to walk a fine line between the competing forces of law and order vs. human compassion. “As a society we need to set aside our political emotions when we’re dealing with human beings,” Hubbell said. “But we’re also a nation of laws.”

With respect to fear of being discovered and deported, Hubbell worried that the undocumented community living in the shadows might not call law enforcement if serious crimes like domestic abuse and child abuse happen.

Impact of “guestworker” visas

As of late June, most Leelanau County farmers appeared to have enough labor. Jim Bardenhagen says that’s because in recent years many growers have turned, albeit reluctantly, to H2A “guestworker” visas to make sure they have enough help, months before the season. Guestworker visas often deprioritize traditional migrant workers who’ve come to northern Michigan for decades, interrupting important employment relationships.

“At this point there seems to be decent supply (of help),” said Bardenhagen. “We’ve seen more people stop by to find work this year. Some growers have gone to H2A. Downstate, a lot of crops were hurt by frost. Folks are coming north to get jobs.”

But H2A visas are expensive, costing as much as $2,000 per hired worker, on top of wages. They also come with red tape; the Department of Homeland Security visits to ensure each farmer follows stringent housing, wage and visa regulations. The H2A program, too, could suffer if the current administration steps up immigration raids. Guestworkers might be reluctant to move for seasonal work if they have undocumented family members with them.

With the all-important cherry season just a couple weeks away, Leelanau County’s agricultural outlook could change in a hurry if immigration raids increase and migrants laborers are rounded up.

“During cherry season is when it would be most painful to lose workers,” said Bardenhagen.