Updated at 5:44 p.m.
Federal immigration agents on Wednesday morning detained Steven Tendo — an asylum seeker from Uganda who has lived in Vermont since 2021 — in the parking lot of his workplace in Shelburne, according to Will Lambek, a spokesperson for Migrant Justice.
A coworker witnessed Tendo’s arrest around 8 a.m.
He is now detained in New Hampshire, at Strafford County Department of Corrections in Dover, according to Brett Stokes, one of his attorneys. Stokes spoke with Tendo briefly on the phone around 10 a.m. after he was detained.
“I think the threat of deportation at any time is imminent,” Stokes said. “If I’m to take his word for it, they told him they were enacting his final order of removal and have already secured his travel documents. That’s usually the last thing that happens.”
Stokes said a team of attorneys was working on Wednesday to file a habeas corpus petition in the district of New Hampshire to ask a federal judge to review Tendo’s case.
They also filed an emergency temporary restraining order to keep Tendo from being transferred elsewhere while that litigation played out.
By Wednesday afternoon, both had been filed.
Tendo had a check-in scheduled for Friday at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in St. Albans, and supporters had planned a rally outside of the office that day. He has had several such check-ins over the past few years and has been released each time with a future date to return.
On Wednesday morning, agents detained him shortly after he arrived at the health care facility where he works, Lambek said. Tendo later called Migrant Justice from custody.
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a statement, Vermont’s congressional delegation — U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and U.S. Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) — called on the Trump administration to return Tendo to Vermont and allow him due process during his appeal.
“Pastor Tendo fled persecution and torture in Uganda and has lived peacefully in Vermont for many years as a valued member of our community,” they wrote. “People like Pastor Tendo are exactly who our asylum system is meant to protect.”
According to previous reporting by Vermont Public, Tendo has been in training to become a nurse.
He fled Uganda and crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018. He was detained upon arriving in the U.S., and his asylum application was denied in 2019. He has been fighting his deportation since.
Migrant Justice and other supporters rallied outside the St. Albans ICE office on Wednesday morning after news of Tendo’s detention spread. By then, he was already in New Hampshire.
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