Migrant Justice Justicia Migrante

Detentions and deportations continue to have a devastating impact on immigrant communities across Vermont and around the country. Through our emergency hotline and robust detention support work, Migrant Justice operates as the principal first responder when a community member is snatched off the street and thrown into detention by the rogue federal agents patrolling our state.

While the expansion of the machinery of mass deportation in much of the country is aided by the collusion of local police, Vermont’s Fair and Impartial Policing Policy – won and maintained through years of dedicated and courageous organizing – acts as a barrier between local law enforcement and federal deportation agencies. When officers violate that policy, we must speak out loudly to demand accountability and ensure that such violations are not repeated.

Read more about the fight to prevent immigration detentions in Vermont – and to free those who are detained.

On September 4th, dozens of Vermont farmworkers and allies picketed outside of Ahold Delhaize’s US headquarters in Quincy, MA, to demand Milk with Dignity. As the parent company of Hannaford Supermarket, the $100 billion grocery conglomerate has the power to root out the human rights abuses in its dairy supply chain by joining the worker-led Milk with Dignity Program.

Alongside students and faith leaders from around New England, farmworker leader Maribel reminded Hannaford of the opportunity that they have to make real change in the dairy industry:

Hannaford, we’re bringing you the solution to the abuses in your supply chain! Joining Milk with Dignity is a real solution, not like the false ones you’ve tried. I’m living proof of the real change that comes with joining the Program. So many farmworkers can and should benefit from Milk with Dignity.

Read more for the full photo-report.

In May, we shared the news that the National Contact Point for Responsible Business Conduct in the Netherlands moved forward our international human rights complaint against Hannaford Supermarket’s parent company, Ahold Delhaize. As we prepare to sit down for mediated dialogue regarding abuses in the company’s dairy supply chain, farmworkers continue to take action calling on the multinational corporation to join the Milk with Dignity Program. 

On 9/4 at 1pm, join farmworkers at Ahold’s USA headquarters in Quincy, MA to demand Milk with Dignity!

Read more to get the full details of the march and RSVP to save your seat on the vans!

For years, Alex Jimenez worked on dairy farms in Franklin County, Vermont. On July 19th, he was the passenger in a car driving to his farm. Three weeks later, Alex has been deported to Mexico, separated from his partner and family members in Vermont.

Alex’s deportation is the result of Chittenden County Sheriff Deputy Scott Costella’s decision to turn a routine traffic stop into an immigration detention. After pulling over the car for lack of a front license plate, Costella requested Border Patrol’s presence at the stop then aided in the federal agents’ detention of Alex, violating Vermont’s Fair and Impartial Policing Policy.

Following the traffic stop, and directly after speaking with Alex and the driver, Costella retrieved his personal cellphone from his cruiser and texted the location of the stop to a group of Border Patrol agents, writing: “Need one of you.”

Fifteen minutes later, two Border Patrol agents arrived on the scene and interrogated Alex and the driver. As federal officers began to detain Jimenez, Costella went to their aid, holding Alex as the agents handcuffed and led him away. He then turned off his body camera and appears to have conversed with agents for the next ten minutes. After helping them detain Alex, Costella offered to buy the Border Patrol agents lunch at Subway.

Read more to get the full story and see evidence of the Chittenden Sheriff’s Office’s collaboration with Border Patrol.

Since the start of 2026, ICE and Border Patrol have shot at least 20 people. Last week, agents shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston. On July 13th, agents killed Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine, as his 3-year-old daughter watched.

The latest ICE killings reveal the violence and brutality inherent in the machinery of mass deportation. ICE and Border Patrol are working exactly as intended: brutalizing people, terrorizing communities, and separating families. This violence is at work in Vermont, where nearly 150 people have been detained since the start of the Trump administration, including five in the past week.

On Thursday in Vermont, immigrants and allies will rally to say “¡Ya basta!” No more killings; not one more deportation; ICE out! We will join together to honor the dead and fight for the living.

The machinery of mass deportation continues to tear apart families and terrorize communities. Even as the daily abuses of ICE fall out of the headlines, the pace of detentions continues to rise, with over 10,000 immigrants detained over the span of a recent five day period.

This past legislative session, we brought the fight against the deportation machine to the Vermont legislature. From January through May, the immigrant leaders of Migrant Justice were a constant presence in the halls of the State House. We worked in coalition with organizations from around Vermont to bolster state protections for immigrants against the federal government’s attacks.

Read more for the full legislative recap!

Thousands of workers at Vermont’s largest hospital are negotiating a new contract. As they push for liveable wages and safe staffing in the workplace, hospital workers are also negotiating a set of “Common Good” proposals. Among those demands: that the University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC) join the Milk with Dignity Program and buy its milk from farms that treat workers fairly.

Hospital workers at UVMMC are using their collective power to support the struggle of farmworkers for rights and dignity. Understanding that their employer is one of the most powerful and influential organizations in the state of Vermont, workers have committed to a strategy to “bargain for the common good,” to push the hospital to be a leader on a broad range of issues: quality patient care, healthcare for all, immigrant rights, and protections for worker organizing.

Read more to learn how hospital workers are organizing to support farmworkers, and take action to support the Common Good Bargaining platform!

The Milk with Dignity Program is expanding, bringing a new product to market. Last fall, we announced a partnership between Migrant Justice and organic brand Vermont Way Foods to produce Cheese with Dignity. The cheese is now for sale and available on store shelves!

This exciting expansion of Milk with Dignity comes on the heels of our recent breakthrough in the campaign to bring Hannaford Supermarket into the Program. We recently shared the news that the National Contact Point for Responsible Business Conduct in the Netherlands advanced our human rights complaint against the corporation. The decision will result in a direct dialogue with Hannaford’s Netherlands-based parent company, mediated by the Dutch panel, a campaign first. 

Even as Migrant Justice advances the work of holding multinational corporations accountable for the wellbeing of farmworkers in their supply chains, we are supporting the development of alternative food systems from the bottom up.

Read more to get the full story on Cheese with Dignity and find out where you can pick up a wedge!

In 2025, Migrant Justice submitted an international human rights complaint with an official Dutch panel over abuses on dairy farms supplying Hannaford Supermarket. After a year of consideration and deliberation, the National Contact Point for Responsible Business Conduct in the Netherlands has concluded that the complaint should move forward. In response, Hannaford parent company Ahold Delhaize has agreed to enter into mediation with Migrant Justice.

This major breakthrough in the Milk with Dignity campaign is just the latest blow against Hannaford, as the grocery chain attempts to stave off criticism over abuses in its dairy supply chain. Farmworkers have denounced the low pay and poor treatment on farms supplying Hannaford-brand milk, and have urged the company to take responsibility by joining the Milk with Dignity Program. As consumers have added their voices to the call for action, the campaign has gained momentum, with a recent picket resulting in a Hannaford store shutting its doors hours early.

Now, a Dutch body has sustained Migrant Justice’s complaint regarding Netherlands-based Ahold Delhaize’s violations of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The 76-page filing includes extensive documentation of human rights violations in Ahold’s U.S. dairy supply chain, as well as significant evidence of Ahold’s failure to exercise due diligence to stop abuses against farmworkers. The complaint points to Ahold and Hannaford’s false solutions – including a hotline that fails to investigate calls, and employer self-assessments that fail to uncover violations – and urges the corporation to join Milk with Dignity.

Read more to see the response to Migrant Justice’s international human rights complaint against Ahold!

On International Workers’ Day, farmworkers held a sixteen-hour picket of Hannaford Supermarket to demand Milk with Dignity. The campaign notched a new achievement, as Hannaford chose to close its Williston store hours early in the face of overwhelming pressure from farmworkers and allies.

Dairy workers spent May Day educating consumers about the systemic labor abuses in Hannaford’s supply chain and urging them not to cross the picket line. While past actions have proven successful in dropping stores’ sales – as hundreds of potential customers show their solidarity by turning away – May Day’s picket succeeded, for the first time, in closing the store itself. 

This is a powerful signal that so long as Hannaford continues to avoid responsibility for ensuring the rights and wellbeing of dairy workers in its supply chain, it will pay a higher and higher price. The company claims to want dialogue, yet they have not meaningfully come to the table to engage with farmworkers. The choice for Hannaford has never been more clear: join Milk with Dignity or face the consequences of inaction.

Read more for the full photo-report!