Illegal Aliens, Criminal Foreign Nationals, and Those Who Enable Them... OH MY!

Idaho has a problem

I need to correct myself a bit (kinda, ish)...

Henry Lito Lazo-Sanchez, the Twin Falls dairy worker who killed an Idahoan, wasn’t an “illegal alien” per se, as I first stated here.

But he IS/WAS a criminal foreign national.

Looks like he was here on some kind of visa (BTW, many illegal aliens are here because they overstay their legally obtained visas. They come here on a legal visa and never go home when they are supposed to (hence, illegal).

But let’s be clear: this foreign national criminal exposes how broken Idaho’s laws are, letting outsiders exploit our system while Idahoans pay the price.

Dairy farmers have been screaming for years that they can’t use H-2A visas because dairy work isn’t seasonal, because cows need milking every single day.

So what visa was this guy on?

• Was it an H-1B, which is meant for high-skill jobs, not ag labor (this would be absurd for a dairy worker)?

• Or was he an H-2A worker for some seasonal gig, moonlighting at a dairy off the books, breaking the law while he was at it?

We need answers.

Even worse, this foreign national had an Idaho driver’s license?

Currently, visa holders can stroll into the DMV with an I-94 and passport, and Idaho hands them a license to drive on our roads with no real vetting, and no accountability.

The system’s a total disaster: the DMV relies on a federal database to verify status, but it’s riddled with delays and errors, meaning licenses often outlast expired visas or slip through the cracks entirely. This criminal exploited that gaping hole, got behind the wheel, killed an Idahoan, and fled the scene—leaving us to clean up the mess while our laws enable the next tragedy.

Idaho’s basically rolling out the red carpet for foreign nationals to endanger our communities with zero consequences.

"What if he WAS here on an H-2A!!??!"

The H-2A visa, administered by the U.S. Department of Labor and USCIS, allows U.S. employers to bring foreign workers to the U.S. for temporary agricultural jobs.

BUT...

The job must be tied to a specific season or a temporary need, like planting or harvesting crops (e.g., a 10-month harvest cycle). The DOL defines "temporary" as generally less than one year, and the work must have a clear start and end date tied to seasonal demand.

Dairy work doesn’t qualify for H-2A...

Dairy farming involves continuous, year-round tasks—cows need milking daily, 365 days a year. This doesn’t fit the H-2A’s definition of "seasonal" or "temporary," and the DOL has consistently ruled that dairy jobs are permanent in nature, making them ineligible for H-2A certification.

As we've heard incessantly, the Idaho Dairymen’s Association has noted that dairy farmers are “prohibited from using the H-2A program” for this reason, as Rick Naerebout stated all over the place tons of times.

"Can't an H-2A Worker Moonlight on a Dairy?”

Not legally.

An H-2A worker cannot legally work on a dairy farm while in the U.S. on that visa, even as a side job or "moonlighting"

Again, H-2A workers are bound to the specific employer and job listed on their visa petition (Form I-129 and the DOL’s temporary labor certification). They can only work for the employer who sponsored them and only for the approved seasonal job (e.g., harvesting potatoes).

Working at a dairy farm outside of that would violate their visa terms, making it illegal.

Hence, if an H-2A worker were found working on a dairy farm, they’d be out of status, risking deportation. The employer (the dairy farm) could also face penalties for hiring unauthorized workers, including fines or criminal charges under immigration law (8 U.S.C. § 1324a).

In the case of Henry Lito Lazo-Sanchez, it’s possible he was an H-2A worker for a seasonal job (e.g., at a potato farm) and working off the books at a dairy farm.

But the ICE post and other stories don’t specify his visa type, so as of now, I can’t confirm if he was on an H-2A.

If he was, working at a dairy would have been illegal under his visa terms.

And we KNOW (because they admit it publicly) that dairy farms hire illegal aliens or those overstaying visas because there’s no legal visa option for year-round work. My guess is Lazo-Sanchez could have been on an H-2A for another job, overstayed or violated its terms, and taken up dairy work illegally.

Or he might have been on a different visa (e.g., an EB-3 for unskilled labor, though rare in agriculture due to long processing times).

“Maybe he was here on a green card?”

It’s been established, H-2A is for temp jobs, so if he was on one, he was breaking the law working at a dairy.

H-1B is SUPPOSED to be for tech geeks, not ag workers, makes zero sense.

So I then thought...

MAYBE he had a green card?

That would let him work on a dairy, no problem—it gives holders full work rights, no restrictions. But if he had one, ICE probably wouldn’t have grabbed him.

Vehicular manslaughter and fleeing the scene can strip your green card if it’s an aggravated felony, but ICE didn’t mention that, so I’m betting he was on a visa he overstayed or broke. If he had a green card, he’d have gotten a license easily, but that’d be void if his status was revoked.

Point is, our laws are a joke—foreign nationals and illegal aliens exploit them while Idahoans pay the price.

Back to H-2A...

There are no direct exceptions that allow H-2A workers to work on dairies.

But there are rare scenarios where dairy-related work might qualify: If a dairy farm has a specific, temporary task like a 3-month busy season (e.g., calving season requiring extra hands) they might apply for H-2A workers for that task. But this is uncommon and must be clearly temporary, not tied to ongoing milking operations.

The DOL also made exceptions for sheep and goat herders under H-2A, as their work can be tied to seasonal grazing patterns (but this doesn’t apply to traditional cow dairies, which dominate Idaho’s industry).

Lenney’s Final Thoughts

An H-2A visa worker cannot legally work on a dairy farm at any time unless the job is a rare, temporary task explicitly approved by the DOL—and even then, it’s not for core dairy operations like milking.

If Lazo-Sanchez was here on an H-2A, his dairy work would have been illegal, highlighting the broader issue of visa misuse and enforcement gaps in Idaho’s ag sector.

Point being: criminal foreign nationals, "illegal aliens," and those who hire and protect them are usurping Idaho’s laws, taking advantage of weak enforcement while our people suffer.

1. Where’s the mandatory E-Verify to stop this?

2. Where’s the mandatory 287g program to let local law enforcement partner with ICE to deport criminals like this?

3. Why aren’t we making it a specific state crime to transport and harbor illegals?

Idahoans deserve better.

We need to close these loopholes now, before more foreign nationals and illegal aliens destroy our communities.

I’ll keep digging.