Border Patrol, Migrant Justice dispute account of arrest at 'sensitive location'

A Burlington-based advocacy group and the U.S. Border Patrol have differing accounts on whether agents crossed into what the nonprofit called "sensitive locations" to arrest a farm worker in Franklin County.

Will Lambek, a spokesman for Migrant Justice, alleges that Mexican-born Jose Luis Cordova Herrera was arrested Feb. 8 after a Border Patrol agent watched Herrera enter a Richford health center to have his teeth cleaned. Lambek said the agent waited for Cordova during the medical procedure and followed him for eight miles before pulling him over and making the arrest.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which includes Border Patrol, has a policy about immigration enforcement actions near what the agency calls "sensitive locations," including hospitals, community centers and churches. 

The policy does not "summarily preclude" immigration enforcement at those locations, but requires "careful consideration and planning," along with written approval from a supervisor.

Steven Cribby, a communications officer for the Swanton headquarters of the Border Patrol, confirmed the arrest of Herrera but disputed that an agent had followed Cordova from the health center.

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"A vehicle drove by the marked Border Patrol unit, and the activities of the occupants were very suspicious," Cribby said. "This behavior, as well as other contributing factors, resulted in the agent conducting a vehicle stop in order to determine the immigration status of the occupants."

Cribby did not specify the nature of the suspicious activities, nor the other contributing factors.

Cordova is the cousin of two Vermont farm workers who were deported last year after being pulled over by the Franklin County Sheriff's Department in a routine traffic stop, Lambek said.

Cordova is being held in a New Hampshire jail and is facing deportation, Lambek said.

"Border Patrol's staking out of a dentist's office and surveillance of a patient is a blatant attack on the human right to access health care," Lambek said in a statement announcing a rally Tuesday afternoon at the Richford health center.

"Our agents know the policy," Cribby told the Burlington Free Press on Tuesday, adding that the policy "doesn't even apply, because that's not what happened."

There are Border Patrol vehicles all over downtown Richford, Cribby said, because the Franklin County town is only about a mile from the U.S.-Canadian border.

Pamela Parsons, executive director of the Richford health center, said her office had not been aware of the arrest until being called by Migrant Justice, but she said she was concerned about the possibility an immigrant was arrested after seeking health care.

"We had the understanding that that does not happen," she said. "We're here to serve everyone who needs care."

A recent Pew Research report shows that while ICE arrests went up significantly in 2017, arrests made by CBP declined by 25 percent, although arrests by the border agency far outnumber arrests by ICE. 

Contact Jess Aloe at 802-660-1874 or jaloe@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @jess_aloe