4/2 Farmers & Community Resisting ICE to Protect Neighbors during Violent Raid in South Burlington

Many farm owners, farmworkers, and members of the Rural Vermont community were among the hundreds of people who put their bodies between ICE agents and a home in South Burlington on March 11th. The following post is written by a Rural Vermont staff member who was present.

After a full day of standoff, VT State Police threw community members off the stairs in front of the house, and helped ICE agents break down the door. ICE proceeded to arrest 3 people, none of whom were listed on their warrant (the person on the warrant was not present), and all of whom were later released by judges on the basis that their arrest had been unconstitutional. Over the next several hours, protestors tried to block the vehicles with detainees from leaving the scene - officers attacked protestors with rubber bullets, tear gas, pepper spray, and other non-lethal weapons, leading to hospitalizations. For more details, see a press release from Migrant Justice. 

Due to the increased funding to ICE, we expect to see more (frequently illegal) ICE raids in VT in the coming months, targeting migrant farm workers and other community members. 

In the statehouse, there have been two joint hearings of the Judiciary committees on the conduct of state and local police. Many of those present believe that state and local police violated Vermont’s Fair and Impartial Policing Policy. In the first hearing, representatives of the police agencies testified that internal investigations were ongoing, that they believed there had been no violation of the policy, and that they believed their officers had all acted very professionally. In the second hearing on March 31st, around 60 community members present during the events told a different story – that the unconstitutional ICE detentions could not have happened without state and local police help. These community members shared firsthand accounts of state and local officers perpetrating and permitting violence and cruelty, and called for accountability.

To support ICE resistance, donate to Migrant Justice or sign up to volunteer - this page includes an opportunity to register for the Rapid Response network of community members responding to ICE actions. You can also tell your Representatives to support S.208, a bill that just passed the senate which proposes to require law enforcement officers, including ICE, to be identifiable while on duty in most cases – this would help make community accountability possible for ICE agents operating and living within Vermont.