At his first press conference since the ICE raid in South Burlington last week, Gov. Phil Scott defended the actions of the Vermont State Police.
Scott told reporters Wednesday that the primary assignment of the state police was to protect the public and not to assist federal ICE officials. “I think we did what we could to keep everybody safe and that was our charge,” he said.
Hundreds of protesters and a large contingency of state and local law enforcement amassed around the Dorset Street home last Wednesday as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents waited for a warrant to search the house.
The situation escalated after federal agents removed three people from the house — none of whom were the subject of the warrant. Violent clashes broke out between protesters and police, and ICE agents set off flashbangs and pepper spray to clear protesters who were blocking their vehicles from exiting the scene.
Local and state police immediately distanced themselves from ICE’s actions, and Scott issued a statement calling the incident “totally unnecessary.” But many remain critical of the role Vermont law enforcement played.
People have specifically questioned the decision by the state police to forcibly move protesters to clear a path for ICE officials to enter the South Burlington house once they had obtained the warrant.
Scott on Wednesday said the State Police did not violate the state’s Fair and Impartial Policing policy, which prevents law enforcement from assisting with civil immigration enforcement, as some have alleged.
“We can't impede federal action,” he said. “So, we had to make sure we could facilitate them creating a distance as best we could between the protesters and the federal officials."
Public Safety Commissioner Jennifer Morrison said it was clear that ICE officials were intent on serving the warrant.
"They were going in, come hell or high water, and we have seen in other parts of the country that if we withdrew, ICE would have used other tactics to break through the crowd and we presumed that Vermonters would be hurt or harmed by those tactics," she said.
Both the commissioner and the governor said they’d hoped to get advance notice from ICE about its enforcement actions in the state, but that didn’t happen last week.
After her office held planning meetings with federal officials last month, Morrison said, “We believed that we would get information — maybe not far in advance — that we would get a heads up on any actions that were going to happen.”
Scott said the administration is conducting a thorough investigation of the incident including using videos and body cameras from law enforcement officials. “We’re looking at body camera footage and we’ll know the truth. We’ll share that when we obtain it but it’s under review at this point.”
The House and Senate Judiciary Committees will hold a joint hearing on this case on Thursday at the Statehouse.
