Federal immigration agents arrested employees of Lamell Lumber in Essex in a targeted raid early Saturday that followed months of investigation.
According to federal court records, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations — the investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security — arrested two lumberyard employees from Mexico. The men were taken to Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans.
Affidavits submitted in federal court by HSI Burlington officer John McGarghan say both workers had previously been deported from the U.S. for entering the country without permission and had not returned legally.
It’s unclear whether more workers were also detained in the raid. While immigration enforcement has ramped up under the Trump administration, this kind of targeted workplace enforcement has not been commonplace in Vermont, where it is widely known that the dairy industry, and increasingly the construction industry, rely on migrant workers.
“This pattern of criminal charges against immigrants is something we’re seeing increase sharply under the Trump administration,” said Will Lambek, a spokesman for the advocacy group Migrant Justice. “In addition to detaining these workers and attempting to deport them, the government is also going to the extreme step of charging them criminally of being in the country without authorization and returning to the country after being previously removed.”
ICE officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
McGarghan wrote that HSI first became aware of Lamell Lumber in February, when it “received information” that the company regularly employs its workers using a Rochester, N.Y.-based employment agency called Agri-Placement Services.
That same month, lumberyard employees staged a protest on the property, saying they had been fired for stopping work in a bid for higher wages; they were making $16 an hour. The workers were living in two company-owned homes next to the lumberyard.
The protest, held with support from Migrant Justice, drew coverage from local media. Local police also arrived on scene to move the protest off the lumberyard’s property.
The following month, records show that HSI subpoenaed Lamell Lumber, requesting detailed records on its employees and payroll. Following an audit, HSI identified several lumberyard workers with allegedly fraudulent “A-Numbers” — the unique identification number HSI assigns to noncitizens.
After looking into their backgrounds, HSI agents found that those workers had previously been deported and did not have permission to return to the U.S.
While ICE has arrested migrant workers elsewhere in the state, including the April arrest of 8 workers on a dairy farm, it’s unusual for raids to be preceded by an employees audit, as was the case here, Lambek said.
“That action from ICE does represent an escalation,” Lambek said.
Lambek said he had been in touch with the two detained workers over the weekend. Because of the criminal charges filed against them, both men will likely spend months in detention before their cases are heard, he said. Both have family members in the U.S., Lambek added.
Lamell Lumber could not be reached for comment before publication.