Guatemalan woman who lives and works on Vermont dairy farm gets immigration reprieve — for now
'Sí se puede,' Bernardo said. 'And united we stand strong.'
According to her attorney, Brett Stokes, ICE agents told her Monday that she was free for now, but that she must return again in 90 days.
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For more than a decade, Bernardo and her partner have lived and worked on an Orleans County dairy farm, milking cows and raising a growing family. They have five children of their own and take care of two of Bernardo's orphaned half-sisters — all between the ages of 5 and 18.
Bernardo entered the country without permission in 2014 and was immediately apprehended, according to Stokes. She has had to check in with ICE officials ever since, but those appointments have grown more frequent — and more fraught — since President Donald Trump took office vowing to deport a record number of undocumented people.
Bernardo's case has drawn significant attention in Vermont over the years, with dozens of state lawmakers
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'I consider them more than just employees,' he told the Globe. 'They're part of the family.'
Morin and his partner, Lynn Beede, drove Bernardo and two of her children to Monday's meeting. After she addressed the crowd of supporters, Morin said he was filled with 'relief and happiness.'
'I'm glad for her family and for everybody,' he said. 'The outcome was good today, but it's not over yet.'
Bernardo was not the only Vermonter facing a nerve-wracking check-in Monday morning.
Steven Tendo, a pastor and community organizer who fled his native Uganda in 2018, entered the building alongside Bernardo for a similar appointment with ICE officials. He was also released and told to return in 90 days.
Tendo, 40, has said that he faced political persecution and torture in Uganda after a charitable organization he founded tangled with the Ugandan government over its civic education efforts,
In 2019, a federal immigration judge denied Tendo's application for asylum, citing inconsistencies around aspects of his story. After spending more than two years in a federal immigration detention center in Texas, he relocated to Vermont, where he lives in Colchester. He now works as a licensed nursing assistant at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington.
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Members of a union that represents him and other hospital workers, Support Staff United, were among the protesters who joined Monday's rally for Tendo and Bernardo.
'It's a huge relief to know that you've left your bed not thinking that you're going to go back,' Tendo said after leaving his appointment. 'And all of the sudden someone tells you, 'Oh, you're OK for the next three months. Come back in October.''
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