Editor’s note: This commentary is by Judith Levine, a writer and activist from Hardwick.
[I]ntroducing Senate Bill 79 in February Gov. Phil Scott said it would “send a comforting message” to undocumented migrants living and working in Vermont.
The bill doesn’t do much more than that. S.79 prohibits Vermont law enforcers from collecting anybody’s personal information, including immigration status, or sharing it with the feds for the purpose of creating a registry — which, thankfully, hasn’t shown up yet. The bill specifically excludes interference with programs in which local police work with Immigration Control and Enforcement (ICE) or the Border Patrol in the roundup of people whose only crime is being without proper papers in a country where it’s virtually impossible for them to attain legal status.
Indeed, as the governor spoke, Vermont’s local law enforcement agencies were applying for grants from Homeland Security’s Operation Stonegarden. Stonegarden’s purpose is precisely to enlist state cops, sheriffs and constables in doing the feds’ job, including collecting “intelligence” on the undocumented and “deterring illegal aliens.” Police officers may pursue this extracurricular activity in road vehicles, boats or snowmobiles.
Being a sanctuary city or state — passing laws prohibiting hospitals, schools, or police from inquiring about immigration status, for instance — is, like S.79, politically positive but largely symbolic. In fact, sanctuary status is unnecessary. The feds can’t compel a state or city to take on immigration enforcement, and they can’t exact penalties for failure to do so.
“All’s we can do is try and give some sense of help,” Scott told VTDigger, referring to S.79, “but it’s not enough.”
No, it’s not enough. Nor is it “all’s” Vermont policymakers and citizens can do. Here’s more:
• Support House Bill 492. In addition to creating a Racial Justice Review Board, to track and respond to iniquitous policing or improper use of force, the law would mandate every law enforcement agency to adopt the entirety of the state’s Fair and Impartial Policing Policy (FIP), only parts of which were previously mandatory.
• Even if H 492 doesn’t pass in full, press the state to train every local cop, sheriff and constable in all aspects of the FIP, particularly those that related to racial profiling. Undocumented people are often apprehended because someone with a badge thinks they “look foreign.” Racial profiling violates the due process clause of the U.S. Constitution.
• Discourage participation in Operation Stonegarden.
According to Migrant Justice, ICE in Vermont generally travels undercover in unmarked vehicles and picks up people one at a time — at the grocery store, on a back road, or, in one case, walking to the curb with a bag of garbage.
• Discourage or prohibit border communities from counting on federal Border Patrol to do local policing. As we’ve seen at the Canadian border and airports, Customs and Border Patrol agents are uniquely unencumbered by accountability or transparency. Casual collaboration between local cops and border agents undermines Vermont’s efforts to bring discipline and civilian oversight to policing.
• Stop routinely sharing fingerprints or other personal information with ICE. It is often in the jailhouse where a minor infraction becomes a deportation. In a letter to the governor, the Vermont ACLU urged that state agencies, including the DMV and Corrections, be directed not to respond to ICE’s “requests for notification” when they are “not supported by probable cause.”
• Stop arresting people for petty offenses. More discriminate policing would not only keep unauthorized migrants out of ICE’s hands but also prevent a lot of other people from entering the criminal justice system — where, once in, it’s far harder to stay out. Reducing the number of Vermonters behind bars would allow the state to bring home the 265 inmates in a GEO Group for-profit prison in Michigan who will soon be kicked out, probably to make room for detained immigrants. ICE is looking for cells and willing to fork over far more than the $64 a day Vermont pays GEO.
Citizens can also take direct actions to help protect their undocumented neighbors.
• If you see something, say something. So far we haven’t seen ICE agents in SWAT-team gear roaring into milking parlors. According to Migrant Justice, ICE in Vermont generally travels undercover in unmarked vehicles and picks up people one at a time — at the grocery store, on a back road, or, in one case, walking to the curb with a bag of garbage. To publicly trouble these deportations, citizens in other communities have established “text trees” to alert neighbors, who have gathered within minutes at the site with signs and cellphone cameras. In some cases, people have done civil disobedience, such as crawling under the border patrol van.
• Talk to your local farmer. While some Vermont farmers have exploited migrant laborers, withholding wages or failing to keep working conditions safe, most care about their workers’ wellbeing. Equally important, they need them. The deportation of Vermont’s undocumented workers would be disastrous for our dairy industry. This is one of those moments when workers and bosses are on the same side. Farmers’ voices can be powerful in Montpelier and Washington. So can yours.
Correction: The author’s name and bio have been corrected.
