José Enrique Balcázar Sánchez
Biography
José Enrique Balcázar Sánchez is a Vermont farmworker organizer with Migrant Justice. ICE detained him on March 17, 2017, after a group meeting. His lawsuit alleged surveillance and retaliation for organizing. He was subsequently released. A 2020 settlement protected three organizers from deportation for five years and included compensation, without a government admission of wrongdoing.
Case history and verification
José Enrique Balcázar Sánchez is a Vermont farmworker organizer with Migrant Justice. ICE detained him on March 17, 2017, after a group meeting. His lawsuit alleged surveillance and retaliation for organizing. He was subsequently released. A 2020 settlement protected three organizers from deportation for five years and included compensation, without a government admission of wrongdoing.
Status reviewed October 8, 2026: Historical case. The profile records the last documented outcome; no current ICE custody is asserted.
Sources
- Federal complaint: arrest and detention allegations
- Migrant Justice: settlement announcement
- Seven Days, 2026: later organizing and five-year settlement terms
Verified detail sources (October 8, 2026): The November 14, 2018 Migrant Justice complaint, paragraph 14, provides the named plaintiff’s biography and explicitly uses he/him. The identity matches the existing Vermont organizing and detention case. Source 1.
Photo source: VTDigger. Photo by Morgan True / VTDigger. Enrique Balcazar is the central speaker. Source image reproduced without alteration.
The November 2018 Migrant Justice complaint alleges that agents repeatedly referred to Balcázar Sánchez’s organizing role, forbade him from contacting Migrant Justice during processing and detention, and warned that calling the group would make matters worse. It also alleges that an officer introduced him at a Swanton detention facility as a famous person, referring to his activism. These attributed allegations add context to the retaliation claim without altering the established March 2017 custody interval.
