ICE Out Vermont Alliance, a coalition of over 40 community, religious, and activist groups from across Vermont, is inviting all Vermonters to attend a statewide peaceful demonstration in St. Albans and a nonviolent sit-in at the St. Albans Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Offices on May 8, 2026. The Alliance demands that CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immediately cease their illegal conduct and adhere to human rights, moral rights, and constitutional law.
“ICE and CBP are law enforcement agencies but they are violating the law and our constitution. They are conducting illegal searches and seizures, using excessive force, and arresting people without judicial warrants, among other violations,” said Rev. Lise Sparrow, retired pastor and representative of the Justice and Witness Ministries Committee of the Vermont United Church of Christ.
The legal rally begins at noon in Taylor Park in downtown St. Albans and will feature speakers from Migrant Justice, faith leaders, and State Treasurer Mike Pieciak. Bread and Puppet Theatre will perform, as well as a number of musical groups such as the Good Trouble Street Choir and the People’s Resistance Marching Band.
Following the legal rally, individuals trained in nonviolence will proceed several blocks to the Customs and Border Protection office to stage a sit-in to disrupt CBP’s ability to conduct business-as-usual. All sit-in participants will have recently participated in day-long nonviolence trainings and have committed to nonviolence throughout the sit-in.
The Alliance is focusing on CBP because both ICE and CBP are involved in illegally surveilling immigrants and non-immigrants alike, conducting arrests, and deporting immigrants. In 2025, CBP was responsible for close to 1000 detentions in Vermont --over ½ of all detentions in the state-- that have resulted in the deportation of over 400 immigrants.
“We are acting in solidarity with the tens of thousands of immigrants who have been detained and deported by our government and affirming their human right to safety and a viable life,” says rally organizer Leo Schiff from Brattleboro.
The Alliance has sent letters to both ICE and CPB about its plans to conduct the sit-in and requested a meeting with them to share its demands. Representatives from the Alliance have also met with the St. Albans City and Vermont State Police to inform them of its plans.
Attached is a list of supporting organizations and the letter to ICE/CBP. For more information about the rally and sit-in, visit iceoutvt.org.
Attachment A:
Organizations Signed on to ICE/CBP Statewide Demo and Sit-in – May 8th
- Burlington Friends Meeting
- Central VT Affinity Group
- Chittenden Third Act
- Code Pink Vermont
- Congregational Church of Westminster West
- Episcopal Diocese of Vermont, Rt. Rev. Shannon MacVean-Brown, Bishop
- Episcopal Diocese of Vermont, Racial Healing and Justice Committee
- First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington
- Franklin County Women for Democracy
- Hanover Friends Meeting
- Hardwick Indivisible
- Green Mountain Alliance Indivisible
- Indivisible Champlain islands
- Indivisible Grafton
- Indivisible Greater Falls
- Indivisible Middlebury
- Justice for All
- L’Chaim Collective
- Middlebury Friends Meeting
- Migrant Support Team of Indivisible Greater Falls
- Milton-Westford-Georgia Indivisible
- Montpelier Insight Meditation
- Newbury Third Act
- Northeast Kingdom Indivisible
- Putney Friends Meeting
- Queen City Vermont Indivisible
- Rail City Indivisible
- Resister Sisters
- Rutland County Indivisible
- St. Johnsbury Indivisible/Brave Little State Alliance
- Three Rivers Indivisible
- Third Act Chittenden
- Third Act Franklin County
- Third Act Windsor/Windham Counties
- Third Act Vermont
- United Church of Christ, Rev. Lynn Bujnak, Conference Minister
- United Church of Christ, Vermont Conference Board of Directors
- Upper Valley Affinity Group
- Upper Valley Resistance Group
- Upper Valley Rise Up
- Vermont Interfaith Action
- 198 Methods
Attachment B:
Letter to ICE and CBP
April 21, 2026
Robert Garcia, Chief Patrol Agent
U.S. Border Patrol's Swanton Sector
Swanton, Vermont
Todd M. Lyons, Acting Director
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Boston, MA
Dear Mr. Lyons and Mr. Garcia:
ICE Out Vermont Alliance, a coalition of community, faith-based and action groups from across Vermont, is reaching out on behalf of the many Vermonters who are alarmed and deeply troubled by the persistent failure of both Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to respect and protect the due process, legal and human rights of immigrants and of the public at large.
According to public records and eye-witnesses, your agencies operate without accountability, engage in racial profiling, and create a climate of fear in our communities. Your agencies have often used excessive force when detaining people and often, without probable cause, treat people as criminals and security threats. Immigrants detained by your agencies are often taken to detention centers far from their loved ones, where they are often subjected to inhumane conditions. For many of us, the needlessly aggressive and unlawful performance of your agencies here in Vermont and across the country seem to serve no other purpose than to intimidate us and disrupt our lives and our communities while denying all the ways our society has benefitted from the contributions of our immigrant neighbors.
At a bare minimum, we demand that ICE/CBP:
- Only apprehend people for probable cause
- Stop use of excessive force when apprehending people
- Operate without masks and have visible identification when apprehending people
- Have arrest warrants signed by a judge before entering private residences
- Offer ample opportunity for legal counsel, and halt transfer of arrested migrants to out-of-state facilities until legal counsel is available
- Provide humane conditions and health care for all detainees
- Offer fair and timely asylum hearings prior to any deportation
- End illegal surveillance
ICE Out Vermont Alliance requests a meeting with ICE and CBP to share and discuss our demands that ICE and CBP adhere to human rights, moral rights, and constitutional law immediately. We would like to schedule a meeting at your offices in the St. Albans area during the last week of April. We anticipate that the meeting could take from one to one-and-a-half hours.
For your information, we will be holding a large legal demonstration at Taylor Park in St. Albans and a peaceful, nonviolent direct action at the Customs and Border Protection office in downtown St. Albans on May 8th to call public attention to ICE and CBP policies and practices that are unlawful and harmful.
Attached you will find an analysis of the myriad ways that ICE and CBP have been violating the Constitution and breaking the law, along with a brochure about our planned protest.
Sincerely yours,
Ginny Callan, E. Montpelier
Steve Crofter, Bellows Falls
Elizabeth Cooper, Middletown Springs
Geoff Gardner, Bradford
Paul Markowitz, Montpelier
Leo Schiff, Brattleboro
Ruah Swennerfelt, Charlotte
Betsy Williams, Westminster
Kate Wolff, Brownington
On behalf of the ICE Out Vermont Alliance
cc: Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Community Relations Officer
Office of Partnership and Engagement
1000 District Avenue
Burlington, MA 01803
Source: MONTPELIER, VERMONT --- April 30. 2026. ICE Out Vermont Alliance
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