Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak signed an executive order on Tuesday morning that outlines the city’s preparations for a potential surge in federal immigration enforcement activity.
In a brief press conference at city hall, Mulvaney-Stanak said the order stemmed from months of conversations between city leaders, law enforcement officials, school leaders and others. The preparations were given new urgency after large-scale federal immigration operations descended on Minneapolis and Maine.
“Those events have raised urgent questions for cities everywhere, including here in Burlington,” Mulvaney-Stanak said. “Residents are asking, ‘Could this happen here? And if it did, would our city be prepared?’ Today we are taking clear, lawful and responsible action to answer these questions.”
The order lays out the role of the Burlington Police Department if the feds increase their presence in the city.
The state requires local Vermont police departments to adopt a policy that bars them from assisting federal immigration authorities. Mulvaney-Stanak said no city resources, personnel, property or data would be used to support federal immigration enforcement.
Police lack the authority to interfere in lawful federal enforcement actions, and the executive order does not inhibit ICE activity in Burlington. In the event of federal immigration enforcement, the order instructs Burlington Police Department leaders to “respond to the scene in a lawful, non-interfering way, document what occurs, preserve evidence and ensure emergency medical care is provided if anyone is injured.”
Any reports of unlawful conduct by federal agents would be “documented, preserved and referred directly to me as the mayor and also to our state’s attorney,” the mayor said.
“This is about transparency and clear local oversight of our police agency by local elected leaders, not federal authorities,’” she added.
Interim Burlington Police Chief Shawn Burke was not at the press briefing, but Mulvaney-Stanak said she had worked closely with him to develop the order and he had reviewed it “several times.”
The order also directs the city’s administration to “update and strengthen” its emergency communication systems, including developing clearer plans for sending timely alerts to residents in several formats and languages.
It also directs city departments to work with community partners to identify services, programs and resources that would support people affected by immigration enforcement.
The order takes effect immediately, and city departments are directed to implement its requirements within seven days.
“This is about preparation,” Mulvaney-Stanak said. “This is about transparency, and this is about maintaining trust between our residents and their local government.”
The order was news to City Council President Ben Traverse (D-Ward 5), who said on Monday evening that he “hadn’t heard anything about it” until the mayor’s office sent a notice for Tuesday’s press conference.
The council had been working on a resolution, sponsored by all 12 members, titled “ICE Out of Burlington,” that condemns the controversial immigration enforcement agency and calls for it to be dismantled, with duties assigned to “other border security agencies.”
It also “formally opposes ICE activities within Burlington and the State of Vermont,” “strongly objects to the use of any facility within the City or State for ICE operations,” and “affirms its policy that ICE agents not be permitted entry into protected areas of municipal property absent a valid judicial warrant.”
The council was expected to vote on the measure during its meeting on Tuesday night.
Getting backing and input from the full council was key for this symbolic gesture, Traverse said, as “an opportunity for us to all come together and speak as one voice on this issue.” Communities around the country “have been taking a stand” against federal overreach, Traverse said, and “we’ve known that Burlington, similarly, needs to put its own stamp on this.”
Among those helping draft the resolution was Laura Sánchez-Parkinson, a Progressive who is running unopposed for the Ward 3 city council seat. The first-time candidate is herself an immigrant from Mexico, so working on the ICE resolution felt personal, she told Seven Days.
She said she worked with various community groups to include “the perspectives of our refugee and immigrant neighbors.”
Sasha Goldstein contributed reporting.
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