Feds Target Vermont's 'Sanctuary Jurisdictions'

Protesters last year at the ICE office in St. Albans Credit: Courtesy: Migrant Justice

Editor’s note, June 2, 2025: The Department of Homeland Security removed the list on Sunday after pushback from the National Sheriff’s Association.

“This list was created without any input, criteria of compliance, or a mechanism for how to object to the designation,” the group’s president said in a statement. “Sheriffs nationwide have no way to know what they must do or not do to avoid this arbitrary label.”
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Burlington, Montpelier and Winooski — as well as the entire state of Vermont — have been targeted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for their “sanctuary” policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

These places, along with hundreds of others across the country, “are deliberately and shamefully obstructing the enforcement of federal immigration laws [and] endangering American communities,” Homeland Security said in a statement. “Sanctuary cities protect dangerous criminal aliens from facing consequences and put law enforcement in peril.”

The federal agency said it will send each jurisdiction “formal notification of its non-compliance with Federal statutes.

“DHS demands that these jurisdictions immediately review and revise their policies to align with Federal immigration laws and renew their obligation to protect American citizens, not dangerous illegal aliens,” the statement says.

Any cities or states that refuse to comply could lose federal funding or grants.

The list was the result of an executive order from President Donald Trump. Its release comes at a time when the feds are trying to ramp up immigration enforcement. With apprehensions at the southern border dwindling, renewed attention is being paid to undocumented migrants already living in the U.S.

That includes Vermont. Just this week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained 10 workers at a construction site in Newport.

Burlington has yet to receive any notification from federal authorities, according to Joe Magee, a spokesperson for Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak. In a statement, the mayor said the city “remains confident that our Fair & Impartial Policing Policy does not violate federal law and is in furtherance of our obligation to keep our community safe.

“Burlington has had a Fair & Impartial Policing Policy for years – this policy offers important guidance to local law enforcement officers, both to prevent discrimination on the basis of protected classifications, and to provide explicit clarity that our local police agency is not charged with enforcement of civil immigration law,” Mulvaney-Stanak wrote. “This policy is crucial for maintaining trust between the community and the police department, and it ensures that people can call for help without fear of discrimination based on immigration status or other protected class.”

Shortly after Trump was first elected in 2016, Montpelier designated itself a “sanctuary city” that would “refuse any requests to be an extension of any federal immigration policy enforcement actions” and “not enter into any agreements to carry out such enforcement.” The city has also adopted a Fair and Impartial Policing policy that mirrors the state’s own.

As of Friday, Montpelier hadn’t received any requests to carry out immigration-related enforcement nor had they been contacted about the list, officials said in a press release.

“The policy defines cooperation with federal immigration enforcement,” Mayor Jack McCullough said in a statement. “Montpelier Law Enforcement Officers are responsible for local law enforcement and are committed to keeping public trust.”

In Winooski, officials said they were “looking into what more information we find out about what this means.

“Residents in the meantime may be assured that the Winooski Police Department will not behave any differently than it has in the last several years,” city manager Elaine Wang said in a statement. Since 2017, Vermont has had a law that limits police agencies’ ability to aid ICE. But earlier this month, the governor signed a bill, S.44, that closes a loophole it contained. The original measure allowed police and sheriff’s departments to strike a deal with ICE — without the governor’s approval — during a state or federal emergency. As of May 21, such agreements require Gov. Phil Scott’s sign-off.

Vermont also has a fair and impartial policing policy. But Amanda Wheeler, a spokesperson for Scott, said the state has “not established itself as a ‘sanctuary jurisdiction.'”

“Vermont maintains full compliance with federal law while protecting the Constitutional rights of citizens and the State,” Wheeler said in a statement. “This means, Vermont doesn’t stand in the way of the federal government carrying out federal immigration laws in Vermont.”