A large crowd of people stood in front of a Burlington courthouse last week, cheering in support of a dozen activists who’d just been arraigned on criminal trespassing charges.
Attorney General Charity Clark filed the charges against protesters who, in July, blocked the doors and refused to leave an Immigration and Customs Enforcement surveillance facility in Williston. Those who were arraigned last week pleaded not guilty, while supporters in the crowd vowed to continue protesting the facility. Federal prosecutors this week also charged five protesters arrested for blocking the doors of the facility.
“We are going to be acting together from across our community, across our state, across our region, and across our country to shut down these surveillance centers,” activist Juniper Branch said outside the courthouse last week.
These demonstrations — along with a mass turnout of activists during a botched ICE raid in South Burlington in March — are just some examples of how Vermonters have protested the agency’s aggressive approach to immigration enforcement since President Donald Trump’s second term started. And a recent Vermont Public poll shows a majority of residents share their objections.
According to the poll, 62% of respondents disapprove of how ICE is enforcing immigration laws, with 54% strongly disapproving.
“With this administration, they're off the wall, crazy and wrong,” said Elise Seraus, 61, a poll respondent who lives in Winooski. “Rounding up people based on their color … and you know the language they speak.”
“What the heck? That's not what America is for,” she added.
Trump administration officials say ICE is focused on removing the “worst of the worst” undocumented immigrants with criminal records, and 25% of poll respondents said they strongly approve of the agency’s conduct. (A recent analysis found ICE arrests of people without criminal records have spiked.) But even some Vermonters who voted for Trump are expressing skepticism.
“At the core of their mission is trying to keep America safe, but I think their approach is too aggressive,” said Michael French, 29, of Bristol.
French, a lifelong Vermonter, voted for Trump in 2024 because he wanted a candidate who was motivated to get things done. But he’s concerned the administration's immigration tactics could hurt the state’s farming and dairy industries.
“With these ICE efforts, I feel like the Vermont way could go by the wayside,” French said. “I am worried about that.”
According to Harvard CAPS/Harris surveys, ICE’s favorability rating plummeted nationally this year after the killings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti during protests in Minneapolis. That rating has crept back up since January, but as of August, 47% of Americans still viewed ICE unfavorably.
Given the national sentiment around ICE, this week’s poll results aren’t surprising, said James Duff Lyall, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont.
“ICE and Border Patrol have been problem agencies for a very long time, far before Donald Trump ever came around,” he argued. “It's just much more visible now.”
The increased scrutiny of ICE has led to some positive developments locally, said Jill Martin Diaz, executive director of the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project. They cite an outpouring of support for the immigration legal defense fund and more opportunities to challenge ICE’s tactics in court.
Still, Martin Diaz said they’re surprised disapproval rates in the Vermont Public poll weren’t higher.
“I would have supposed based on everything that the communities learned over the last few years, that there was a bigger, a stronger majority agreement that ICE, as this uncheckable, untrackable branch of federal civil law enforcement, is a harmful institution,” Martin Diaz said.
The poll found a deep partisan divide in how people viewed ICE. Nearly all Democrats — 89% — said they strongly disapprove of ICE’s enforcement actions, while 65% of Republicans strongly approve. (55% of independents strongly disapprove of ICE’s actions, the poll found.)
Paul Dame, chair of the Vermont Republican Party, said the GOP approval number was actually higher than he expected. He said most Vermont Republicans he talks to only somewhat approve or have no opinion about ICE.
While general disapproval of ICE might hurt Republican congressional candidate Gerald Malloy in the upcoming election, Dame said he doesn’t think it will push Vermont voters away from statewide and local GOP candidates.
“I've literally heard people say, ‘I'm not sending any Republicans to Washington, and I'm not sending any more Democrats to Montpelier,’” Dame said. “I think Vermont voters … love a reason to split their ticket.”
Seraus, the poll respondent and self-described independent, said generally, she votes “right down the middle of who's ever more moderate.” For this election, in part because of ICE, Seraus said she’ll likely only vote for Democrats.
