Updated at 4:57 p.m.
Federal agents raided the construction site of an affordable housing project in Newport on Wednesday and arrested 10 migrant workers — the latest indication of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown reaching Vermont.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid took place at the construction site of Newport Crossing, which is being built by the HP Cummings Construction Company. Dan Smith, a partner at the firm, said in an email that the detained workers were employed by a subcontractor and declined further comment.
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The workers’ legal status was unclear as was their whereabouts. Brett Stokes, an attorney with the Center for Justice Reform at the Vermont Law & Graduate School, went to the Northwest State Correctional Facility on Friday morning under the impression that some of the detainees were being held there. He asked to speak with them and was brought into a room with a handful of people, he said, only to learn that the group had actually been detained in Massachusetts.
Attorneys and advocates were still trying to track down the Newport workers on Friday afternoon.
The Vermont Asylum Assistance Project hosted a virtual training session on Friday morning for attorneys and interpreters interested in providing pro bono legal help to the ICE detainees.
“VAAP [has] confirmed that ICE detainees are now being held in multiple Vermont facilities with extremely limited access to interpreters and legal advice,” the nonprofit said in a press release. “Immediate legal screening and Know Your Rights support are urgently needed.”
The nonprofit said an additional seven detainees were taken from the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility on Friday and brought to the Burlington airport, presumably to be flown to ICE detention facilities in Louisiana or Texas.
ICE has previously targeted construction workers in Vermont. In 2018, federal agents raided a Colchester hotel and arrested 14 undocumented migrants who were staying in the area while working on projects.
More recently, border patrol agents rounded up nine migrant workers who were connected to a Berkshire dairy farm. Several have since been deported to Mexico, while two have been released on bond. The others remain in custody.
Correction, May 30, 2025: The day of the raids was misreported in an earlier version of this story.
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