Activists gathered outside a federal building in Williston on Thursday morning and assembled a makeshift living room with a rug, couch, coffee table and fold-up mattress near its front doors. They also scrawled Anti-ICE messages in chalk on its facade.
The action was part of a week of protests aimed at several U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement intelligence facilities in Williston, organized by Shut Down ICE VT. Earlier in the week, the group staged a funeral procession at another nearby facility to recognize people killed by federal immigration agents, and erected planter boxes with “community gardens” in the middle of Harvest Lane to block access to the federal offices.
The building at 88 Harvest Lane — near a Goodwill and a daycare — houses the federal Law Enforcement Support Center, a 24/7 intelligence hub run by ICE and used by police across the country seeking information on an individual’s immigration status or criminal background.
It also houses a national ICE tipline, which field calls from citizens reporting suspected violations of immigration law. The Harvest Lane facility and another at White Cap Business Park on Industrial Ave have become the site of regular protests since President Donald Trump assumed office for the second time and launched a national immigration crackdown that has led to widespread detentions and deportations.
On Thursday, dozens of protesters arrived before 8 a.m. to deliver notecards with handwritten “tips,” encouraging ICE employees to find other jobs. The building’s perimeter had been cordoned off with police tape, but officers did not stop protesters from approaching or scrawling anti-ICE messages all over the building.
On a side door, someone wrote: “Hang up the phone, stop watching us stop breaking up families.” Other messages said “ICE out,” “You can say no,” and “God is watching you!”
Susan McMillan, a clergy member who was arrested in September while protesting at another nearby ICE facility, said the goal of Wednesday’s action was to shut down the building for a day and clog the citizen tipline with false tips.
“We’re trying to keep them from getting tips that lead to people getting deported,” she said. “This is all part of a week of nonviolent direct action to change our government.”
Throughout the morning, federal agents for Homeland Security Investigations watched from vehicles nearby, and a Williston Police cruiser blocked traffic from Harvest Lane. Officers did not approach the protesters except to remove items they installed to block a surveillance camera at the entryway.
The large parking lots flanking the facility were empty, aside from the federal agents’ vehicles.
Around noon, organizers speaking into a microphone thanked people for coming and called the action a success.
“I think we’ve done what we came to do,” said Keely Ferrando, a 23-year-old student at the University of Vermont. “We came hoping we could shut down this ICE building, and you know what? We did.”
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