Rural & Migrant Ministry hosts Summer Day Program

“We’re creating future leaders.””

Angela D’Aiuto Program Coordinator Rural & Migrant Ministry

SOUTH FALLSBURG  — Rural & Migrant Ministry (RMM) recently hosted a Summer Day Program for children of local migrant families that combines arts and crafts with personal enrichment. In addition to summer programming, RMM, a nonprofit established in 1981, provides empowerment programs for local high-school students. 

At a time when immigrant communities are distressed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, detainments, and deportations, RMM is reaching out to support the migrants that provide the backbone for our agricultural economy here in New York.

Program Coordinator Angela D’Aiuto said RMM’s programs are doing the right thing by supporting vulnerable communities. “We are here for rural youth,” she said. “A lot of families have mixed immigration status; there’s many people throughout the country that are mixed immigration, so one child could be a citizen, and another child might not be, or aunt, uncle, cousin. So that’s really where life is unfair depending on what age you were brought here.”

Throughout the week, participants from ages 9-14 came to the Spark Rural Worker Education Center in South Fallsburg, located in the former St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, for a variety of engaging activities including outdoor team-building, interactive lessons on integrity, career exploration workshops, and environmental education. 

On the day’s agenda was a paper-mache apple-making activity that highlights RMM’s support of agricultural workers. Producing nearly 30 million bushels of apples annually, New York State is the second-largest apple producer in the United States, and it has been widely reported that the state’s apple harvest relies on both documented migrants working here temporarily on H-2A Visas and undocumented immigrants from Mexico and other countries.

Since 2010, “Bags for Justice” has been part of RMM’s Youth Empowerment Program (YEP). This program makes use of the Spark Center’s professional screen-printing machine, which allows participants to design and create high-quality tote bags and t-shirts. In addition to developing tactile skills and vocational experiences, D’Aiuto said the kids are learning about social justice issues, finding their voice, and undergoing college readiness exercises. “We’re creating future leaders,” said D’Aiuto.

D’Aiuto said RMM’s Legal Director Juana Cortes de Torres has provided staff and other members of the community, including two Sullivan County churches and nursing students from Job Corps, with training about knowing your rights when you encounter ICE. 

D’Aiuto said the group of young women from Job Corps, who have received certifications as CNA’s (Certified Nursing Assistants) and other health-related training, are Haitian and Caribbean immigrants with sponsors and temporary visas. “Now they are being told that, ‘sorry, you’re from Haiti, you have a temporary visa? You have to leave by August,’” D’Aiuto said. “They were all planning to go to various community colleges to [pursue] work in health care. These are individuals that want to work in an industry we need [workers in].” 

When asked about the dangers of running a program that caters to migrant families, D’Aiuto said, “We always have our doors locked… so we can stop ICE to say, ‘This is a private space, you cannot come in.’ They’re supposed to have a warrant.”

According to the National Immigration Law Center, a leading advocacy group in the U.S. that defends the rights of low-income immigrant families founded in 1979, immigration agents can enter a private area only if they have a judicial warrant signed by a judge that says “U.S. District Court” or “State Court.” Without a judicial warrant, immigration agents need permission to enter private areas of a business or home. However, public spaces are fair game.

“The reason why they’re stopping cars is because they’re using traffic stops for alleged human trafficking–they can stop anybody on the street walking, and any car without a warrant. And that’s the scariest thing–you’re going clothes shopping, you’re going to work–it’s racial profiling basically [to stop someone who appears to be an immigrant],” said D’Aiuto. “How many women and men with brown skin that are citizens are getting taken to detention?”

“I’m more concerned about adults driving around, and workers going to a factory on a bus,” she added. “There was a group of workers that were stopped in western New York on a bus back in May.”

D’Aiuto was referring to a widely reported May 2nd operation in Western New York during which ICE agents stopped a bus of farmworkers on their way to work at Lynn-Ette and Sons Farms, a producer of vegetables, fruit, and grain, resulting in the detainment of 14 long-standing employees.

To engage in Rural & Migrant Ministry programming or become a volunteer, you can call the Spark Center at 845-539-5069 and visit their website at ruralmigrantministry.org.