The state’s three members of Congress held a videoconference call with regional officials at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Wednesday afternoon. Staffers said the Vermonters expressed concern about what President Donald Trump’s executive order might mean for the many unauthorized immigrant workers who toil on farms across the Green Mountain State.
The call was made from the Capitol Hill office of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., with Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., in attendance.
The delegation connected to Sanders’ Burlington office, where congressional staffers were accompanied by Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan, a staffer for Gov. Phil Scott and a representative of the Vermont Farm Bureau.
Chris Cronen, the director of ICE’s Boston field office, was also in the Burlington office for the meeting, as were some of his staffers.
The meeting occurred more than a week after the delegation requested a conference with ICE officials in a sharply worded letter. The letter raised concerns about the arrest of three members of the activist group Migrant Justice, who were taken into custody by federal immigration authorities earlier this month.
The Vermont congressional offices did not provide a verbatim account of the conversation. Staffers described the questions from the delegation as “tough and assertive.”
Vermont’s Washington representatives suggested the recent arrests might be unfairly targeting activists. They pressed ICE not to harm Vermont’s farm labor force through crackdowns, said staffers, and contended that immigrants in the country illegally frequently play productive roles in the community.
But ICE is bound to follow Trump’s executive directives, and officials told the delegation they are continuing to get new guidance as the agency reshuffles its priorities under Trump.
A new Vermont law, which passed the Legislature as S.79, aims to prevent immigration crackdowns on farms by requiring state and local police to seek Scott’s approval before participating in certain federal civil immigration enforcement actions. Still, there’s little if anything Vermont can do to prevent the arrest of immigrants.
On Wednesday evening, Democratic senators held a separate one-hour meeting with John Kelly, Trump’s director of homeland security, on Capitol Hill. According to CNN, Kelly said he won’t direct immigration officials to separate mothers and children at the border, walking back a past statement.
Kelly also assured Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that there wouldn’t be sweeps for unauthorized immigrants on California farms unless they broke another law.
Coming out of the meeting, Leahy said Kelly hadn’t offered much clarity.
“I asked questions,” he said. “There’s still answers to come.”
