Gov. Phil Scott said Friday that he will unveil legislation next week responding to President Donald Trump’s executive order halting refugee resettlement and banning immigrants from seven majority Muslim countries.
Vermont’s Republican governor made the announcement following the first meeting of his Civil Rights and Criminal Justice Cabinet, formed this week in the aftermath of the Trump’s edict. (One false note: While the cabinet’s membership is somewhat diverse, all those who spoke to the media outside the governor’s Montpelier office were white men.)
Scott focused on one aspect of Trump’s order: a request that state and local authorities take part in immigration and border security efforts. The governor called that “a bit of an overreach” by the federal government. He has said that he would not agree to the request, and he doesn’t want local officials to deal separately with the feds.
“We are going to continue to work over the weekend on language that we will have introduced next week,” Scott said. His office said the bill would specify that only the governor can enter into such agreements on behalf of the state.
Further response to the Trump orders would have to occur within the narrow bounds of state authority, he added.
“That’s what this cabinet is trying to come to grips with,” Scott said. “What can we do to alleviate the fears of those who are here in the state while protecting our constitutional rights from the overreach of the federal government?”
When asked about the the potential for retribution from the Trump administration, Scott issued a cautionary note.
“That’s why we want to craft language to make sure that we’re on firm ground,” he said. “We rely on a great deal of federal funding in this state, so it has to be a concern.”
In the current fiscal year, the feds are on the hook for 35 percent of Vermont’s state budget.
Scott is one of a handful of Republican governors to take a stand against Trump. Indeed, Scott could name only three: Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, Utah’s Gary Herbert and Ohio’s John Kasich. As an outlier in national GOP circles, Scott risks some blowback within his party.
“I’m hearing from some who think that [the Trump order] is the right step,” he acknowledged. “I would just offer that this could set a precedent in terms of federal overreach. And in this case they may agree with the president’s moves, but it could be something else important to them the next time.”
Members of Scott’s cabinet said that no one has been detained in Vermont under the Trump order, but several attested to the disruption of lives and a new climate of fear.
“It’s something that’s difficult to measure — the amount of fear that’s out there in the country and here in Vermont,” Scott said. “We’re going to do whatever we can to calm those fears.”
“The issue of harm is something we’re looking at and trying to garner information,” added Attorney General T.J. Donovan, a Democrat. “That’s part of our research for any potential legal action.”
On Thursday, Donovan’s office issued a call for Vermont lawyers to provide free legal services to those needing advice or representation in immigration and detention cases.
“In the finest traditions of the Vermont Bar, we want to assist Vermonters who are most vulnerable in our state and in our nation at this time,” Donovan said in a Thursday statement. “This is the moment to step up and help provide access to justice.”
The Vermont Bar Association joined in Donovan’s call and is offering immigration trainings to lawyers who want to provide free services for those caught up in the federal government’s heightened enforcement program.
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So if legislation comes to the floor, it will be a real moment of truth for Republican state Representatives and Senators who are, on the whole, to the right of Scott.
Will they support their Republican Governor?
Or will they stand with their Republican President, Donald Trump, and his divisive exclusionary agenda, and the vocal right wing here in Vermont that supports Trump? Will they risk making a huge part of their base angry?
It will be a moment of truth for many of them.
If John Walters is going to play the identity politics game and discount and judge people solely on the basis of their skin color and gender (something I thought was prohibited by our civil rights laws), I would only note that he shares the same skin color and gender as the people he is commenting on. Does this mean his column bears a false note?
“(One false note: While the cabinet’s membership is somewhat diverse, all those who spoke to the media outside the governor’s Montpelier office were white men.)”
Wow. There was absolutely no reason to write this, other than to provocate. The “white men” in question are there because they are officials elected by the people of Vermont. And they have no control over the color of their skin or their gender. The author of this column on the other hand, who is also a white male, is not an elected official. He can be replaced by the publisher of 7D. Perhaps he should take his own medicine and ask 7D to replace him with a woman of color?
John Walters is guilty of spreading hate speech. In every article he writes he always paints white males in a negative light. He must really hate himself and must have done some awful things in his life to have so much hate and guilt in his heart. As for Governor Scott’s it’s time for him to remember the people that put him in the office he now occupies. If he keeps bowing to the Democrats he won’t hold the office very long. And one last note the seven countries on the travel ban list are majority Muslim but more importantly they are the largest sponsors of terrorism on the planet according to not only the Trump administration but before that the Obama administration that made up the list in the first place. I was at the marathon in Boston in 2013 and I sure hope none of you ever have to experience a horrific event like that because some radical has slipped through the cracks and is able to attack us again.