Vermont: 13 protesters face charges after demonstrations against an ICE intelligence center in Williston

Williston, Vermont — Protests against a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) intelligence center in Williston, Vermont, returned to the center of the U.S. immigration debate on Saturday, after NPR's morning briefing highlighted the mobilization and an October roundup noted that 13 protesters face state and federal charges, according to organizers who describe those cases as an attempt to suppress dissent.

The action focused on the federal building at 188 Harvest Lane, home to the Law Enforcement Support Center, a round-the-clock intelligence hub that police departments across the country consult to check a person's immigration status or criminal background. The same complex also houses a national ICE tip line, where citizens report suspected immigration violations.

According to local outlet Seven Days, dozens of protesters arrived before 8:00 a.m. during a week of action organized by the group Shut Down ICE VT: they set up a makeshift living room by the doors, with a rug, a couch, a coffee table and a fold-up mattress, and scrawled chalk messages on the facade, including “ICE out” and “Hang up the phone, stop watching us, stop breaking up families.”

Organizers say the facility was effectively shut down for much of that week and that police interference was minimal. The October roundup by the Interrupting Criminalization project states that 13 people protesting the center's presence face charges, which organizers characterize as suppression of protest.

The case illustrates a growing tension: while the federal government expands its surveillance and deportation apparatus in its second term, activists in states such as Vermont are trying to expose and disrupt the infrastructure behind those operations, with actions ranging from funeral processions to symbolic blockades with community gardens.

Photo: Seven Days / Lucy Tompkins

Source: Seven Days and NPR