Hundreds of people crowded into downtown Burlington on Friday night to protest the botched immigration operation in South Burlington that led to confrontations between activists and law enforcement and ended with the detainment of three immigrants.
Protestors, carrying signs that said “Get ICE Out of VT” and “Free Them All,” gathered at the bottom of Church Street and marched up to the federal courthouse on Elmwood Avenue before returning to the steps of city hall.
They demanded the release of the detainees: a 31-year-old Honduran man named Christian Humberto Jerez Andrade and two Ecuadorian sisters: Daysi Camila Patin Patin, 20, and Jisella Johana Patin Patin, 31. The three are being held in Vermont prisons, even though federal authorities have acknowledged that they were seeking someone else when they surrounded the Dorset Street home, obtained a warrant and broke down its door.
Protestors also called on state and local police to answer for their roles at the scene.
Local authorities have since criticized their federal counterparts for how the day unfolded and have said that they responded to keep the peace between protestors and immigration agents. They said they acted with restraint despite aggression from activists.
But local officers threw some protesters to the ground during the encounter, videos show, including one woman who says she suffered a concussion. Burlington has since vowed to conduct a “comprehensive” review of its officers’ conduct.
“We saw Vermont police officers working hand in hand with ICE agents to violently clear the way for ICE to detain three of our neighbors,” said Kate Kanelstein, director of the Vermont Workers Center, who was at Wednesday’s protest.
Among those to speak Friday was the teenage nephew of Jerez Andrade, who was inside the home during the hours-long stand-off. The teen, who identified himself as José, told the crowd that federal agents pointed guns at him after they burst into the home. One of the agents went into the attic to search for the man they had been looking for, according to José, only to fall through the ceiling, resulting in his gun discharging.
“I could have been shot,” José said. “I could have been killed because of [their] stupidity.”
He described the fear he felt watching his uncle, “the man who taught me everything,” get arrested, and said he was worried that he, too, might be detained.
“This is, this is not human,” he said, choking back tears.
His account about the gun firing could not be confirmed Friday night. A sergeant at the South Burlington Police Department told Seven Days that he had not heard about any firearms being discharged during the incident but suggested that the chief may know more.
Wednesday’s ordeal began after what appears to have been a faulty surveillance operation.
ICE agent Colton Riley was staking out the Dorset Street home around 7:30 a.m. when he saw two men climb into a Toyota Camry, according to an affidavit he wrote. Riley ran the plates and found it was registered to Deyvi Daniel Corona Sanchez, a 24-year-old Mexican man who is facing a pending driving-under-the-influence charge from January and who is accused of illegally entering the U.S. after previously being deported.
When Riley and other ICE agents attempted to pull the car over, the driver allegedly fled, resulting in several crashes along Dorset Street. Two people ran from the vehicle and into a nearby home, and immigration authorities surrounded it.
Demonstrators descended on the scene, leading to a standoff as ICE agents obtained a search warrant signed by a Vermont federal judge to enter the home and apprehend Corona-Sanchez.
Later that evening, a state police team clad in riot gear cleared a path through a line of protesters so that ICE agents could force their way into the home. Inside, agents apprehended the three adults, but did not find Corona-Sanchez, who was the only person named on the warrant.
According to Burlington-based advocacy organization Migrant Justice, Corona-Sanchez was neither in the vehicle nor in the home during the incident.
As protesters attempted to block the ICE vehicles from leaving the scene, authorities deployed tear gas, flash-bang grenades and pepper balls. Eight protesters were ultimately detained, and three were cited into court.
Attorneys for the three immigrants are now seeking their release through court petitions that argue their detentions are unlawful. Federal judges on Thursday ordered ICE to keep them in Vermont until their cases can be heard.
The elder Patin lives in the home ICE raided and has two children, ages 4 and 8, who attend the South Burlington School District, according to court filings. She and her sister have both applied for asylum.
Protestors vowed to return to the Burlington federal courthouse Monday morning, when a hearing has been scheduled in one of the sisters’ cases.
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