VPR's Mitch Wertlieb talks with two producers of the film Silenced Voices that looks at the death of migrant worker, José Obeth Santiz Cruz, who died on a Vermont farm last December.

The U.S. Labor Department has proposed new rules that would permit foreigners to work in American agricultural industries. But the proposal does not include dairy workers. And Senator Patrick Leahy says that's a major shortcoming because foreign labor is needed on dairy farms.

A migrant farmworker who died in Vermont just before Christmas was laid to rest this week in his hometown in Chiapas, Mexico. A delegation of Vermonters helped bring the body home. The group hopes that the tragic death will call attention to the plight of undocumented workers who live a sometimes hidden existence on Vermont dairy farms.

Vermont dairy farmers are waiting to find out if they'll face fines or enforcement action after a federal immigration crackdown was launched last month. Meanwhile, Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy wants to change federal labor rules to allow farmers to employ migrant workers.

Dairy farmers and their immigrant workers are worried about a new federal enforcement effort launched last week. The government is investigating whether farmers have hired undocumented workers. Up to two- thousand Mexicans work on Vermont dairy farms. And the crackdown could result in some workers being deported.