Travelers making their way toward the Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport’s security line Wednesday afternoon passed beneath some unusual signage. A large yellow banner hanging from the second floor read: “We See Something. We Say Something.”
The people holding the banner were among more than 100 members of the public who turned out for the Burlington Airport Commission meeting Wednesday to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and its use of the facility to transfer detainees out of state.
During nearly three hours of emotional testimony, dozens of speakers asked the commission and aviation director Nic Longo to block ICE from using the airport. They raised concerns about federal overreach, transferring detainees out of the public eye and without due process, and ultimately – human trafficking.
“It’s time for you to take a stand on this and say, ‘No, ICE is not going to be sneaking human beings in the back door in the dark of the night,’” attendee Jana Porter told airport officials.
Airport officials said it was important for them to hear from so many members of the public, and that they’re working to address these concerns – at least to the extent they’re legally allowed.
The outcry comes as local activists and news outlets have documented federal immigration authorities using the facility to transfer detainees out of state. Activists have shared several videos showing what they say are ICE agents moving detainees into the airport using a non-public side door during pre-dawn hours.
In the videos, activists ask TSA and the Burlington Police Department to determine whether the detentions are legal, but neither agency agrees to do so.
Activists believe more than 500 detainees have been transferred out of state since January. They have compiled a public database based on data from the state’s inmate locator, which they’re cross-checking with news articles, Department of Justice press releases, federal court records and in-person observations. Vermont Public has not independently confirmed these numbers.
Burlington resident Julie Macuga told commissioners that in the past month, activists tracked three groups of ICE detainees being transferred from the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility and through the airport. They could only find court records for several, Macuga said, leading them to conclude the rest had been flown out without due process.
Data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, or TRAC, show that through June 2025, only about 43% of the 852 pending immigration cases for people with a Vermont address had legal representation.
Vermont Law and Graduate School Center for Justice Reform Director Brett Stokes has told Vermont Public that compared to his previous decade of experience in immigration defense legal work, the Trump administration is moving detainees much more quickly and without warning. And that makes it much more difficult for lawyers like him to connect with clients.
“They’re being moved, in my opinion, purposefully to places that are devoid of legal services,” Stokes said in an interview this week.
He added that then reduces the chances for those clients to review whether immigration authorities detained them legally.
And activists like Macuga point out recent examples of people detained in Vermont, who did have legal representation, and whose lawyers successfully argued in federal court that they should be released from ICE custody.
Among them: Ksennia Petrova, a Russian-born scientist at Harvard Medical School who was taken into custody at Boston’s Logan Airport in February for failing to declare frog embryos. In May, District of Vermont Chief Judge Christina Reiss determined that immigration authorities “acted improperly” and ordered Petrova’s release from ICE custody.
Another Vermont federal judge similarly ordered the release of detained White River Junction resident Mohsen Mahdawi in April. The Trump administration Mahdawi said should be deported because his pro-Palestinian activism threatened the federal government’s foreign policy goals, and Mahdawi’s lawyers argued this violated his constitutionally protected speech.
By letting ICE use the Burlington airport unobstructed, protestors told facility officials on Wednesday that they are complicit in more people being removed from their families, homes and work without due process.
“This is under your witness,” said Richmond resident Wafic Faour. “This is under your observation. You are the authority to allow them or to stop them.”
ICE did not respond to a request for comment.
Nic Longo, the airport director, said at the commission meeting that he’s working with Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak to address people’s concerns about ICE at the airport. He indicated they are looking into activists’ suggestion that they establish a special position to screen whether detainees are able to exercise their legal rights.
“We as a city and I as an airport director are committed to trying to find a facilitation to help people with representation when they fly through this airport,” Longo said.
But he stressed that the facility is in a frustrating position given its limited authority and legal obligations to federal agencies.
In response to a request from Longo, a Washington, D.C. law firm outlined those legal obligations in a memo released Wednesday. According to the memo, ICE has “broad legal authority” to operate through the public areas of the airport and criminal penalties may apply if the airport interferes.
“There are interagency coordinations that are occurring that I am not privy to, or I don’t have the jurisdiction,” Longo said. “No airport staff has ever been involved, coordinated with or connected with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”
However, the memo does state that the airport can adopt rules that limit access to parking and to non-public areas of the airport that could affect ICE operations.
And Longo said that the non-public side door shown in the videos made by activists “generally should not be used at all.”
“We do need to control those doors,” he said. He added that the airport is in charge of issuing the security badges that open access doors – and the airport has the ability to remove badge access.
The memo also notes that a recent federal court order temporarily prohibits the Department of Transportation, including the Federal Aviation Administration, from withholding grant funding based on non-cooperation with ICE.
Members of the public urged airport officials to try challenging federal immigration authorities in whatever ways they could – and then see what happens.
“We don't know what other airports are doing, and I think we have to be the first,” said activist Julie Macuga. “We have to be brave.”
