This afternoon, a dozen people protested in the atrium outside the U.S. Department of Homeland Security offices at the White Cap Business Park in Williston. ICE officials there are tasked with nationwide digital surveillance of targeted individuals, combing online and social media accounts to track down people to detain and deport.
Several people took turns reading the names and stories of all the individuals killed by ICE officers or who died in ICE custody over the past year. They blew high-pitched whistles every ninety seconds, marking the fact that on average, every ninety seconds someone is arrested by ICE. Among their demands is for White Cap to cancel its office lease with DHS. Suite 170 has been leased by the federal government for more than a decade. According to federal data, the current lease began in June 2019 and is due to expire in 2034. In a change likely made sometime over the past month, DHS removed its White Cap listing from Google Maps.
At the start of the action, participants read from a prepared statement, which reads in part:
Every minute and a half, ICE kidnaps someone. All across the country, they are brutalizing and murdering innocent people, separating families, and terrorizing entire communities. That violence starts here, with the research and surveillance happening at White Cap Business Park’s National Criminal Analysis and Targeting Center. And all across the country, people are blowing whistles to alert and protect each other from ICE raids. Today, we do the same. The disturbance caused by our presence here is only a tiny fraction of the life-changing disruption that ICE visits on Black and Brown communities every day.
This action is the latest in a string of escalating actions aimed at ICE operations in Vermont. The widespread and often indiscriminate violence employed by ICE agents in Minneapolis this month, including the shooting death of Renee Good, has further amplified anti-ICE efforts here.
Yesterday, the other major ICE facility in Williston, on Harvest Lane, was the site of a large outdoor rally that garnered hundreds of attendees despite frigid weather. On Tuesday, the Williston Selectboard unanimously passed a non-binding resolution condemning ICE, the first resolution of its kind in the state. On Monday night of last week, activists hoisted a banner reading “ICE Violates Rights Here” across the main entrance of the White Cap building. In November, a noise demonstration was held in the White Cap parking lot, aimed at disrupting activities inside the DHS office.
One participant in the action, Debbie, drove up from Brattleboro to join the action. “I was not aware of what was going on here in Williston, and I was horrified when I found out that this little tiny town in this little state had a national tip line and huge data center, and they’re processing data to decide who to abduct next. I just felt like I really had to do something,” she said.
This afternoon, property manager Normand Stanislas said he wanted the protesters removed. “I respect everyone’s right to protest, but we have rights too,” he said, and cited the disruption of other offices within the business park. After half an hour, Williston police officers arrived and issued a warning to disperse. Later, after deliberation with Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George, Williston Police Chief Patrick Foley informed White Cap management that George would not file charges against the protesters, and thus the officers could not arrest or cite those there. Stanislas said he disagreed with George’s determination and would bring the issue to Governor Phil Scott.
Around 3 p.m., five participants sat down in front of one of the DHS office space entrances and continued to chant. Roughly a half hour later, federal DHS officers approached and threatened them with federal Class C misdemeanors for blocking the entrance. The protesters ignored officers’ requests for their names and ID, continuing to read the names of those killed by ICE and blow their whistles. Officers picked up one of them, Peter Booth, a retired school teacher and Jericho Selectboard member, and moved him across to the other side of the atrium. Shortly afterward, Booth returned to sit against the door with the others. Federal officers did not interfere further, and the remaining participants left of their own accord around 4:30 p.m.
“The country is literally coming apart at the seams, democracy is genuinely up in the air,” Booth said. “I don’t have a job to get to, I don’t have to worry about my mortgage, I’m retired now, I feel like I have no excuse for not taking some risks that other people have to take just to live their regular lives.”
The next anti-ICE rallies will be held tomorrow, January 23, in Bennington, Burlington, Middlebury, Montpelier, and Randolph.
Patrick is a writer and organizer based in northern Vermont. He is on the editorial collective for The Rake Vermont.
