[V]ermont will receive the more than $2 million in law enforcement grants that have been on hold for about 15 months as the federal government examined whether the state was compliant with immigrant enforcement policies.
The state’s Department of Public Safety announced late Monday that the review is now complete and U.S. Department of Justice has determined that the Vermont State Police “fully complies” with federal law requirements.
At issue was whether Vermont’s fair and impartial policing policy conformed with federal rules requiring communication between local and state police agencies and federal authorities regarding immigration status.
Federal authorities last spring asked for additional documentation regarding the state’s policies.
Thomas Anderson, Vermont’s public safety commissioner and a former longtime DOJ employee, has maintained that the state’s fair and impartial policing policy was in compliance with federal law.
On Monday, Anderson said in a statement that the U.S. Department of Justice agreed.
“The Vermont Legislature and the State Police, through its Fair and Impartial Policing Policy,” Anderson said in a statement, “have always struck the correct balance between ensuring undocumented immigrants feel safe in reporting criminal activity while still recognizing Vermont’s obligation to comply with federal law.”
Anderson was not available late Monday afternoon for additional comment.
Justice Department officials in Washington could not be reached for comment.
According to Adam Silverman, a state police spokesperson, said a $1.3 million COPS Anti-Heroin Task Force Grant that had been awarded was held up pending the federal review.
Also, the state had applied for annual grants total about $500,000 each for fiscal years 2017 and 2018 through the Byrne Justice Assistance Grants program. Those funds have also been released.
According to the state Department of Public Safety, all of those grants are primarily used to fund the work of Vermont State Police Drug Task Force.
The Department of Justice put Vermont and 29 other jurisdictions on notice in November 2017 that they were in jeopardy of losing federal funding because of policies that restrict local and state police enforcement from turning in undocumented people to federal authorities on the basis of ethnicity and race.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a prepared statement Monday that the release of funds was a victory over the Trump administration.
The administration, Leahy said, “unfairly targeted Vermont by placing arbitrary conditions on these grants — conditions that federal courts across the country have consistently found to be illegal.”
David Carle, the senator’s communications director, said late Monday afternoon that no such release of funds occurred for other states.
“This just applies to Vermont for now,” Carle said. “Other states have filed suit against the Trump administration. Those suits are pending in various federal courts across the country.”
Lia Ernst, a lawyer with the ACLU of Vermont, wonders what prompted the DOJ’s change of heart.
“The Department of Justice’s threats to withhold funding have been deemed by court after court to be unlawful,” she said. “Perhaps they saw the writing on the wall.”
The Fair and Impartial Policing policy was adopted in December 2017 by the Vermont Criminal Justice Training Council, over objections from advocacy groups for undocumented immigrants, including Migrant Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont.
Ernst said she is hopeful state and local officials will now “stiffen their spines and reassess the existing policies and provide greater protections for valued and important members of our community.”