Immigration

(12/01/11) Here in the North Country and across much of Upstate New York, population growth and economic development have been anemic for decades. But just north of the border, Canadian communities like Kingston are working aggressively to attract foreign immigrants willing to bring new energy and new skills.

As part of a partnership with WBEZ public radio in Chicago, Brian Mann has been traveling in Ontario, looking at the different strategies that Canada has used to boost prosperity. Today he reports from the city of Vaughan, just north of Toronto, where immigrants are seen as the key to the future. more

(06/24/11) The problem of high labour turnover on dairy farms was highlighted in late March when John Barney of Smithville was arrested for hiring Latinos who came here without documentation. Many farmers say they can't get their cows milked any other way, but the hiring of immigrants breeds resentment when unemployment in the region is so high.

Now, several Jefferson County agricultural organizations and the Cornell cooperative extension have created the Agricultural Workforce Development and Training program to train local people and match them with dairy farms looking for help.

Jay Matteson is Jefferson County Agricultural Coordinator. He told Nora Flaherty one of the biggest causes of high turnover is that people just don't know what they're getting into when they take a job at a dairy farm. more

(05/20/11) It's practically a given that you need a car if you want to live in a rural place. Not all towns have grocery stores or pharmacies. Work can be miles away.

The distances and empty landscapes are particularly isolating for the hundreds of undocumented workers on dairy farms in the region. Undocumented migrant workers, can't drive - they're not eligible for driver's licenses.

A group of Middlebury College students is providing local farm workers with a two-wheeled alternative.

Angela Evancie has the story. more

(05/18/11) Sen.Chuck Schumer says Homeland Security will begin tapping into Canadian military radar later this year to detect low-flying aircraft used to smuggle drugs from Canada into the United States.

Schumer also says a border security task force of several U.S. and Canadian agencies will be established in Massena by October. At a hearing he chaired in Washington yesterday, New York's senior senator questioned Department of Homeland Security officials about new initiatives to balance commerce with fighting drug trafficking. Ryan Morden has more from Washington. more

(05/11/11) Yesterday, President Obama took his pitch to overall the nation's immigration laws to the Mexican border. In El Paso, Obama said he's exceeded Republican demands for improved border security. He said now it's time for them to work on immigration reform.

Today, there are at least hundreds of Mexican and Central American men and women working illegally on North Country dairy farms. Last month, a Jefferson County farmer was arrested by federal agents for employing undocumented workers.

For the dairy industry, the biggest problem with current immigration laws is one called H2A. It's a guest worker program, but dairy farmers are not eligible to use it. A bill introduced by Congressman Bill Owens would change that. He spoke with David Sommerstein.

(03/31/11) 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. more

(10/21/10) Ruben Garcia is a human rights advocate who lives on the U.S.-Mexico border. For more than 30 years, he has run Annunciation House, an emergency shelter for migrants and the homeless in El Paso, Texas. Garcia will speak to students and the public at St. Lawrence University in Canton today. The issue of border security, illegal drugs and immigration is complex along the southern border. He'll give a presentation, titled "The Border as a Prophet: Voices Calling us to Justice", in St. Lawrence's Carnegie 10 at 7 pm. Garcia joined Todd Moe in the studio this morning for a first person account on the effects of beefed-up military patrols, the drugs wars, human rights and life along the southern border.

(09/17/10) Across the North Country, border patrol road checkpoints where agents stop cars and ask passengers their citizenship have become a part of daily life. Today we have a story about another step in the creeping influence of homeland security inside the border.

It's now become commonplace for federal agents to board buses and trains across Upstate New York and ask passengers for proof of citizenship. The checks are sweeping up some drugs and illegal immigrants, but also people who are here legally. David Sommerstein reports. more

(09/17/10) One wrinkle in the immigration picture has been particularly difficult for foreign students and professionals working in the U.S.

There are two agencies within Homeland Security that handle visas. The one that issues them is U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. It says a foreign national may reapply or change a visa status "in a timely manner" before its expiration date. The visa itself may take weeks or months to process. The U.S. Border Patrol however, only looks at the expiration date.

If a person's visa has expired, that person is subject to detention. Immigration lawyer Hilary Fraser of Ithaca has defended clients caught between these two interpretations of the law. She told David Sommerstein one was a Filipino national living in Watertown.

(09/13/10) North Country apple growers say it's been a good season, but they had to fight U.S. Immigration officials to harvest their crop. For decades, orchards in northern New York have relied on experienced workers from Jamaica. Many of these laborers make the trip from the Caribbean several times a year to prune trees, tend them throughout the season and pick the fruit.

Debbie Everett is part of the family that has owned and run the Everett Orchards, near Plattsburgh, since the Revolutionary War. She says problems getting H2A visas for farm workers delayed apple picking even as the fruit was ripe, ready and nearly falling from the trees:

"The remainder of our workers just came in Tuesday," she said. "It was pretty touch and go there. But they are here. That's the good news."

As Jonathan Brown reports, an apparent misunderstanding by U.S. Immigration officials nearly prevented the Jamaican workers from making their harvest trip to the North Country. more