Editor’s note: The following is an editorial opinion submitted to Progressive Dairyman by the author, who is the nutrition consultant for the dairy discussed. Read more about the incident he describes in this month’s issue of El Lechero. The news lead looked bland enough: Agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested two dairy farm owners in Michigan October 6, alleging the couple failed to fully and accurately complete I-9 forms for new hires. The owners of the Aquila Dairy farm were taken into custody on federal charges stemming from allegations that they “defrauded the government,” following an ongoing investigation by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE is a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

However, this was no normal arrest. It was an all-out attack that included one helicopter, one armored personnel carrier and 30 ground officers wearing camouflage uniforms and pointing assault rifles at everyone on the farm. They threw the employees operating the milking parlor against the wall and had two rifles pointed at point-blank range at the owner’s son in the house. What were they after? They arrested John and Anja Verhaar for having had illegal immigrants work on their farm more three years ago. None of the current employees have had any questionable citizen status since ICE raided the farm more three years ago.

News reports carrying information about this raid reported sensational fiction which, to the uninformed public, would be believable. One news report said, “Michigan raid arrests employers; illegal workers go free.” Since there have been no illegal workers on the farm in over three years, there were no arrests of any employees.

If ICE officers wanted the owners of Aquila Dairy for an incident happening over three years ago, the Department of Homeland Security could have sent a certified letter for them to appear in federal court. Instead ICE spent taxpayer money to perform this attack on a dairy farm in the style one might expect for taking down Mafia gangs or a drug cartel. If the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has so little to do in the effort to secure our borders that they need to use this type of force to bring up activities that happened more than three years ago, one would think we have the safest, most secure borders of any country in the world. The fact that the “ongoing investigation” referred to in this case has taken several years before action was taken by ICE, shows that the Department of Homeland Security possibly needs to re-evaluate its effectiveness and efficiency.

If ICE had done any homework, they would have found out that Aquila Dairy has made a dedicated effort to make sure all employees are legal citizens. In my opinion, this dairy is one of the finest dairy production operations in our country. The health of all animals is outstanding. An example of the level of animal health is that there was only one treated cow during the whole month of August 2010. Aquila Dairy was a nominee farm for this year’s National Dairy Quality Award.

I hope Secretary Napolitano reviews this exercise in Michigan. No matter how you look at our immigration issues, the waste of our government is out-of-hand. The costs for this raid may have cost taxpayers thousands which could have been limited to $5.52 – the cost of sending a U.S. postal certified letter. However, that wouldn’t have made sensational media attention just prior to an election, now would it?

Regardless of your thoughts on U.S. immigration issues, there is no denying this case is over-the-top for harassment. PD

Steve Adsmond
Nutritionist
Van Beek Nutrition
adsmond@vanbeeknutrition.com