Vermont Plans to Send Cash to Immigrant Farmworkers Left Out of Stimulus
Migrant farmworkers are crucial to the state’s dairy industry, and a new initiative offers relief funds to make up for a lack of federal support.
By Elizabeth Hewitt
February 4, 2021
When the COVID-19 pandemic plunged the country into upheaval last March, Eli, an immigrant who had worked on dairy farms in Vermont for five years, was on the other side of the country.
Eli and her husband had traveled to Los Angeles to meet her daughter, who was coming from Mexico. But, as the country shut down, they couldn’t find work in California and wouldn’t be able to meet her daughter after all. Eli was two months pregnant at the time, so she and her husband returned to Vermont. But the farms there, facing plummeting milk prices and wary of bringing in new workers, had stopped hiring. Eli’s family struggled to find jobs and a place to live, until a friend helped them out. But when the federal government dispersed $1,200 in stimulus money, they didn’t receive any support.
“It was pretty hard to make ends meet,†Eli said.
https://civileats.com/2021/02/04/vermont-seeks-to-support-immigrant-farmworkers-left-out-of-covid-funds/
