Yesterday was the deadline for several Vermont farms to turn over paperwork on their employees to Homeland Security. Last week, as part of a nationwide federal crackdown, authorities handed out subpoenas to five Vermont businesses, at least four of them were dairy farms. The goal is to catch workers who have provided illegal documents.
The crackdown surprised the Governor. He says the solution is not to target farms, but a new visa program, so farmers can legally hire the help they need year round since not enough Vermonters will do the work.