Press release: Max home, Arbey released

Posted Wed, 05/21/2025 - 1:26pm

Press Contacts

Burlington, VT - Vermont dairy worker Diblaim Maximo Sargento-Morales has returned to Vermont after weeks in immigration detention. Another member of the farmworker community, Arbey Lopez-Lopez, has been ordered released on bond by an immigration judge after receiving widespread community support.

Sargento-Morales, known to friends as Max, flew to Burlington International Airport over the weekend after his release from Karnes County Immigration Processing Center in Texas. An enthusiastic crowd of supporters gathered to welcome him home, breaking into applause and chants as he arrived at the terminal. Max had been held in detention for nearly a month before returning home to friends and family.

Sargento-Morales was part of a group of eight farmworkers detained by Border Patrol last month in the largest immigration enforcement action on a farm in recent Vermont history. An immigration judge in Chelmsford, MA ordered his release last Thursday, setting bond for Mr. Sargento-Morales at the lowest amount allowed by law.

In a separate hearing on Monday, an immigration judge ordered the release of Arbey Lopez-Lopez, a member of the farmworker community detained in April after he was pulled over by Border Patrol while driving to deliver groceries to a farm. Mr. Lopez-Lopez has been in immigration detention for 42 days, primarily at the New Hampshire federal prison FCI Berlin. He is expected to be released and returned to Vermont later today, where he will be reunited with his 5-year-old daughter.

Four of the farmworkers detained alongside Mr. Sargento-Morales have been deported without due process by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Juan Javier Rodriguez-Gomez, Luis Enrique Gomez-Aguilar, Urillas Sargento, and Dani Alvarez-Perez have all been removed to Mexico without a hearing or the ability to request asylum.

Those remaining in detention will have their cases heard tomorrow by an immigration judge in Texas. Jose Edilberto Molina-Aguilar, Jesus Mendez Hernandez, and Adrian Zunun-Joachin are all held in detention at the Karnes County Immigration Processing Center and will receive hearings to determine whether they will be released on bond.

As with past hearings, Migrant Justice has invited community supporters to watch the hearings virtually from their offices in Burlington. Supporters will gather at 10:30am for Mr. Molina-Aguilar’s hearing and at 2:30pm for the hearings of Mr. Mendez Hernandez and Mr. Zunun-Joachin.

Rossy Alfaro, spokesperson with Migrant Justice, said: “We are showing that when the community organizes, we are stronger together. Thousands of people have taken action, and together we have freed Max and Arbey. We hope that soon they will be joined by Jose, Jesus, and Adrian. Not one more deportation!"