ICE terrorized a Vermont neighborhood yesterday.

Joint Statement from the Rutland Area NAACP and the Windham County NAACP

ICE terrorized a Vermont neighborhood yesterday. See the statement from Migrant Justice for an account of the incident.

The same Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics that have traumatized communities across this country have now escalated their presence and subsequent violence in Vermont. What unfolded in South Burlington was not about safety. It was about intimidation and force brought into a residential neighborhood where families live, children play, and neighbors deserve peace.

Federal agents in tactical gear surrounded a home, broke down a door, and deployed flashbang devices and chemical agents as tensions escalated. When a federal agency brings militarized enforcement into a neighborhood like this, the result is predictable: fear, chaos, and community harm.

For years the national NAACP has called for Congress to defund and ultimately abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement because the agency has repeatedly demonstrated a pattern of racial profiling, civil rights violations, and violent enforcement tactics against immigrant communities.

What happened in South Burlington is not an isolated incident. It reflects a national system that too often treats immigrants as threats rather than as human beings deserving dignity and due process.

ICE was created only two decades ago, yet it has rapidly expanded into a powerful enforcement apparatus that operates with enormous resources and far too little accountability. Across the country we have seen the consequences: families separated, people detained without transparency, and communities traumatized by militarized raids.

Now Vermont has witnessed it firsthand.

The presence of ICE did not make this community, or this country, safer. Their tactics escalated the situation and brought violence into a neighborhood where residents were trying to protect their neighbors and express concern for their community.

We reject the narrative that immigrants are the danger.

Immigrants are our neighbors, coworkers, classmates, and friends. They contribute to the social, cultural, and economic life of Vermont every single day. The real danger to our communities is a system that relies on fear, militarization, and the dehumanization of people because of where they come from.

We urge Vermont leaders and local law enforcement agencies to remain firmly within the legal and constitutional boundaries that protect public trust. Vermont must not allow federal immigration enforcement tactics to dictate how safety is maintained in our state. Local and state agencies should refuse to collaborate with or assist ICE operations that undermine constitutional protections and destabilize neighborhoods. Vermont law enforcement is responsible for protecting the people who live here, not acting as an extension of federal immigration raids. Safety in Vermont must be grounded in civil rights, accountability, and respect for human dignity, not cooperation with militarized enforcement actions that bring fear into our streets.

The Rutland Area NAACP and the Windham County NAACP stand in solidarity with immigrant communities across Vermont who are now living with the fear created by these enforcement actions.

What Can You Do?

At this moment we call on Vermonters to stand with the organizations that are working every day to protect immigrant families and defend human rights in our state. Support the work of Migrant Justice, a grassroots organization led by migrant farmworkers fighting for dignity and rights for immigrant communities across Vermont. Support the work of the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, which provides critical legal assistance and community support to people seeking asylum and safety in our state.

Vermonters should call their legislators today, before tomorrow’s crossover deadline, to support H.742 for sustained funding for immigration legal services, so lawyers are available through 2027 to enforce rights and pursue remedies when ICE violates them.

And take time to learn and share Know Your Rights information so that immigrant families understand their protections and are not forced to face these encounters alone.

Vermont should be a place where every person can live with dignity and safety. Militarized immigration enforcement that terrorizes neighborhoods moves us further away from that vision, not closer to it.

Our communities deserve better. And we will continue to speak out until they have it.