SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
vermont
Airplanes Are Today’s Deportation Trains; How Can We Slow Them Down?
ICE has taken over 450 people through Burlington Vermont’s airport, most without due process. How can local authorities and citizens intervene?
Aug 11, 2025
Vermont’s airport is finally moving toward providing some legal support for the shocking number of detainees who are being abducted here. It happened after a long evening of impassioned pleas by dozens of citizens on August 6, a month after the story broke about Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s use of commercial flights to transport more than 450 detainees between January and June this year.
Brave activists have been showing up in the wee hours of the morning to bear witness, speak to detainees when possible, and try to prevent people from being taken away against their will. In the absence of due process, the ICE actions amount to human trafficking. The activists once succeeded in stopping three people from being boarded onto a plane. The next time, ICE used a private side door, which was captured on video. Since the airport’s position had been to treat ICE like any other law enforcement agency in public areas, this attempt at secrecy resulted in packed halls at the Airport Commission meeting August 6.
Why do we even have detainees in the obscure state of Vermont? We are the second smallest in the union, where the Trump administration has generally turned a blind eye rather than stop the flow of milk through New England. But because the state has a contract to house detainees, ICE scoops them up fast elsewhere and dumps them as far as possible from their lawyers, families and communities—first in Vermont, then via the Burlington Airport to Louisiana and Texas or beyond. Less than half the people being shipped out of Vermont had access to a lawyer, according to Vermont Public Radio. Three widely covered cases—Rumeysa Ozturk, Mohsen Mahdawi, Kseniia Petrova—showed that, when ICE impulsively pounces on people and shackles them, judges set people free because they were denied due process.
The state has drawn some lines in cooperating with ICE, in addition to having the most outspoken and effective congressional delegation fighting the current madness. Gov. Phil Scott, one of the dying breed of open-minded Republicans, refused a request to delegate some of our National Guard to ICE to do paperwork. At the Airport Commission, Courtney O’Connor, a Montpelier attorney who has worked internationally, quoted a letter from the governor which stated, “Our administration will support efforts to ensure that those detained in our state are treated fairly and afforded full due process guaranteed under the law.”
He implied that it’s ridiculous for the airport to treat ICE like any other law enforcement agency, because they don’t behave like one.
The moment is ripe to look for every possible means for airports around the country to resist collaboration with ICE’s unconscionable practices. Airports are in a tough spot, because they are federally regulated and, to some extent, funded. But a recent court case brought by Vermont and 19 other states established that, at least for now, funding cannot be withheld from states which refuse to cooperate with “immigration enforcement.”
“The airport, at a minimum, has a responsibility to let the public know what’s happening inside these walls, and on the tarmac,” said Julie Macuga, a key activist. For inspiration, we can look to the King County Airport in Washington State, where activists have interrupted buses with banners as a last resort, and to the Connecticut attorney general who challenged Avelo Airlines’s practices. These strategies may or may not be effective in the long run, but at least they show resistance.
The full cast of Vermont characters was present at the Airport Commission, three minutes at a time: the eloquent professor who investigated human rights abuses in Central America, the young activists who have assembled the data and aren’t afraid of late nights and early mornings, the former state representative with grey locks and strong feelings, the lawyer who sets up guardianship for children of parents who might be deported, the uneasy elder naturalized citizen, the fiery Democratic Socialist, the household name Palestinian activist, the troubled veteran who fought for democracy, the professional whose refugee client checks in every few hours, the humanitarian aid worker, and many others. Not one spoke in favor of ICE.
“If we don’t stand up, who is going to?” they asked.
“Why is the airport complying?”
“Is this the way for families to be treated in Vermont or anywhere?”
“Stop collaborating with this criminal deportation machine.”
“This is incremental fascism, and we have to say no to it.”
“Our state is always brave enough to stand up for what’s right.”
“I don’t know what other airports are doing, but we need to be first.”
Some made specific legal points. Courtney O’Connor stressed that Vermont officials are at risk of civil litigation and criminal prosecution if they collude with constitutional violations. Although as an attorney she has visited countless prisons around the world, “I’ve never heard in my entire career heard of [airport] side doors being used in a democracy to protect government officials who were acting feloniously from detection.”
Saul Steinzor, a criminal prosecutor for 32 years, emphasized that ICE isn’t like other Vermont law enforcement agencies who seek evidence carefully for probable cause or reasonable suspicion. No other agency uses masks and pounces on people in the dark. Over two-thirds of detainees have no criminal record whatever. He implied that it’s ridiculous for the airport to treat ICE like any other law enforcement agency, because they don’t behave like one.
Jeanne Keller of Burlington, a longtime community activist, said the commission was going through a typical process with a controversial issue. Stage one is “We can’t do that,” followed by “Let’s ask if we can do that,” and finally, “We’re going to do it, let’s figure out how.”
By the end of the evening, the airport director Nic Longo was ready to say that he’d explore one of the activists’ key suggestions. Vermont Public Radio reported that “[Mr. Longo] is working with Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak to address people’s concerns about ICE at the airport. He indicated they are looking into activists’ suggestion that they establish a special position to screen whether detainees are able to exercise their legal rights. ‘We as a city and I as an airport director are committed to trying to find a facilitation to help people with representation when they fly through this airport,’ Longo said.”
One activist made a stronger statement: “We’ll keep showing up, so they know they’re not alone and we won’t allow them to be disappeared.”
The activists are there at 4:00 am ET and sometimes before. What about the rest of us?
Keep ReadingShow Less
The Fate of Detained Workers Depends on Us
Only by making it politically and socially unacceptable—and ultimately illegal—to hunt for undocumented people and treat them inhumanely, can we really change this situation.
Jul 13, 2025
For everyone who cares about Migrant Justice leaders Ignacio “Nacho” de la Cruz and his 18-year-old stepdaughter Heidi Perez, it’s great news that the immigration court has ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to release them—at least for now.
Well more than 100 people protested outside Burlington, Vermont’s Federal District Court for a rally with moving speakers both Monday and Tuesday—and just as many had shown up at the Statehouse a few weeks before to demand their release. The courtroom itself was also packed for a habeas corpus hearing for Heidi, which is probably irrelevant given her upcoming release. But she and her stepfather are still vulnerable to deportation.
Why were the two detained at all? Coverage in Vermont Digger presents an unnerving picture of a “fishing expedition.” Perez and de la Cruz describe in “declarations” injuries which occurred when the driver’s window was broken by a Border Patrol supervisor, as well as physical maltreatment and a threat to their children once they were in custody. At the time, they say the agent refused to answer why he had stopped them apart from the fact that the driver spoke Spanish. The report of his affidavit in Digger reported that he expected to see more people in the back of the van (which he did not). He said that the driver and Perez refused to roll the window down fully, produce a driver’s license, or respond to his questions. From their point of view, they were within their rights to call the Migrant Justice hotline, and asked repeatedly why they were stopped and whether they were free to go. Since the detention, the government has also alleged that de la Cruz may have been involved in smuggling people based on the phone they seized from him. The alleged incident involves six people (reported here.) No charges have yet been filed against him.
Situations like this are going to arise more and more often everywhere in the country, and on our doorstep in Vermont. Under new legislation which eviscerates low-income healthcare access, ICE will gobble up more than the combined budgets of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the U.S. Marshals Service; and the Bureau of Prisons.
If there was ever a time to show up in public and financially for Vermont’s dairy workers and their organization, it’s now.
Even after hearing of the upcoming release, a progressive lawyer friend and I were left with a queasy feeling about the ultimate outcome after Monday’s hearing for Heidi—despite Heidi’s being a poster child for everything we would want for an immigrant in this country. She graduated from Milton High School just days before she was detained. Even as a junior, she was a leader and speaker with the Milk with Dignity campaign to improve conditions for Vermont’s migrant dairy workers. Perez was among those behind the Education Equity Act, which allows financial aid and in-state tuition regardless of a student’s immigration status. Her opinion piece in Vermont Digger, coauthored with Brissia Hernandez, said, “When we first moved to Vermont, there was basically no hope for students like us to go to college, even though we have been dreaming of it since we were little.” Perez has a scholarship to attend Vermont State University this fall. She thinks far beyond her own needs, and made our state a fairer, better place.
She’s done everything right—except that she is undocumented.
In the same Vermont Federal District courtroom, habeas corpus hearings were also held for Rümeysa Ozturk, Mohsen Mahdawi and Kseniia Petrova. Each was in the country legally, and their legal status was capriciously revoked without due process. In contrast, Perez and de la Cruz are caught in a trap, a “cruel system” as several rally speakers described it. We depend on their labor but make it all but impossible for them to achieve legal status in the U.S. The government in power is pushing to expunge them from our country.
The power of the federal government is now behind every Border Patrol agent, the quotas are out there, and the agents are expected to fill them. We can’t really count on the administration’s mixed messages. Most of Vermont’s dairy workers and many of our construction and landscape workers are vulnerable to the same treatment that was meted out to Perez and de la Cruz. Recent raids have upset the whole dairy industry. No matter what someone’s rights may be in the technical sense, Border Patrol has carte blanche in most of Vermont. Only by making it politically and socially unacceptable—and ultimately illegal—to hunt for undocumented people and treat them inhumanely, can we really change this situation.
Even if these two prominent leaders were not targeted initially (and they may have been), a simple identity check would have revealed who they are. Conservative estimates say we have 800-900 dairy workers plus families in Vermont, and only a handful have been detained, fewer deported—and two of that handful are Migrant Justice leaders.
Will the legal system—whether the District Court or the immigration court—ultimately give relief to the undocumented workers who have been persecuted under every president, Democrat or Republican? Except when the government missteps or treats people badly, it’s hard to imagine real relief. Watching a 4-year-old girl in pigtails cavorting on the edge of the rally, I shuddered to think her undocumented parents might be deported. Among the speakers was Wuendy Bernardo, the primary caregiver for her own five children and two orphaned younger sisters. ICE requires her to report every month now, where hundreds have accompanied her on the last several visits. Her quiet dignity, her grave face, and the child clinging to her side told the whole story. She said “Here, we can feel the sun and the wind. In detention, you don’t feel that. You don’t even know if it is night or day.”
If the legal system offers only limited relief because it has now been tuned toward cruelty and persecution, our answers are in the streets, in the legislature, in the media—and beyond that in human kindness. People on dairy farms are afraid to go shopping. They are afraid to send their kids to school. Migrant Justice needs our presence and our help. As a worker-led organization, it has been a consistently positive force in winning legislative victories, with de la Cruz as an important figure in most. It builds solidarity, exposes abuses, and fights for better conditions.
If there was ever a time to show up in public and financially for Vermont’s dairy workers and their organization, it’s now. It's too dangerous for them to be on the streets themselves, and besides, most of them are working 12-hour shifts. It’s our turn.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Facing 'Dangerous Attacks on Care' From GOP, At Least 20 Planned Parenthood Clinics Close
"We have been fighting to hold together an unsustainable infrastructure as the landscape shifts around us and an onslaught of attacks continues," said the head of Planned Parenthood North Central States.
Jun 02, 2025
On the heels of Planned Parenthood announcing clinic closures in the Midwest last month, The Guardian published a Monday analysis showing that the reproductive healthcare provider has closed or disclosed plans to shutter at least 20 locations across seven states since the beginning of the year "amid immense financial and political turbulence."
"The Planned Parenthood network, which operates nearly 600 clinics through a web of independent regional affiliates and is overseen by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, is facing a number of threats from the Trump administration," the newspaper reported, detailing closures in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Utah, and Vermont.
In a May statement, Planned Parenthood North Central States (PPNCS) detailed cost-saving closures, consolidation, and layoffs impacting eight health centers in Iowa and Minnesota, and stressed that "dangerous attacks on care continue."
"My heart hurts as we announce the closure of health centers and the departure of trusted and talented colleagues, but our patients come first—always," said Ruth Richardson, president and CEO of PPNCS. "We have been fighting to hold together an unsustainable infrastructure as the landscape shifts around us and an onslaught of attacks continues."
Since the U.S. Supreme Court empowered abortion opponents by reversing Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision in 2022, those attacks have included the freezing of Title X funds and Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives voting last month to advance a reconciliation package that would defund Planned Parenthood.
In response to the House's May vote, Jessica Barquist, Kayla Montgomery, and Lisa Margulies, vice presidents of public affairs at Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE), said, "To be clear, 'defunding' Planned Parenthood and taking away health insurance from millions will do nothing to lower healthcare costs, address challenges in our healthcare system, or save lives."
"Taking healthcare away from people struggling to deal with rising costs and preventing people from using their health insurance at their trusted provider is cruel," they continued. "We know what happens when people lose access to care: they skip cancer screenings, delay STI testing, miss birth control appointments. These delays lead to worsened health outcomes and more costly emergency care down the line."
In addition to warning of "catastrophic" consequences for patients, the trio highlighted that "analysis from the Congressional Budget Office finds 'defunding' Planned Parenthood would cost $300 million and is the only provision in the healthcare portion of the bill that would increase the deficit."
PPNNE in April announced the closure of a Vermont health center, citing "serious financial hardship." Nicole Clegg, president and CEO of the regional group, said at the time that the decision was "very difficult" and "PPNNE attempted many different investments and organizational changes to tackle the complexities of delivering care in St. Johnsbury, but the challenges persisted."
That same month, Planned Parenthood Association of Utah (PPAU) said that it had to restructure due to the Trump administration's attacks, "including the recent withholding of $2.8 million in Title X funding."
"The painful decisions to close Logan and St. George health centers, reduce PPAU's staff, and increase service fees are forced on us by the Trump administration," declared PPAU interim CEO Sarah Stoesz. "We believe that by consolidating our healthcare delivery and expanding telehealth, we will be in a better position to continue serving those who rely on us for healthcare."
Planned Parenthood of Michigan (PPMI) also revealed in April that it "is reducing its brick-and-mortar footprint and reorganizing operations statewide," which includes closing three health centers in Jackson, Petoskey, and Marquette; consolidating two clinics in Ann Arbor; and expanding its telehealth offerings.
PPMI president and CEO Paula Thornton Greear said at the time that "the Trump administration and its anti-abortion allies have made clear their intention to defund Planned Parenthood and attack access to sexual and reproductive healthcare nationwide," and "these necessary changes strengthen PPMI's ability to adapt quickly in a challenging political landscape."
The Guardian noted that PPMI "was not among the Planned Parenthood affiliates that saw their Title X funding frozen," and "did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the clinic closures and the role of Title X in those closures."
According to the newspaper:
Planned Parenthood’s financial woes have raised eyebrows for some advocates of abortion rights and reproductive health. The organization has weathered several crises, including allegations of mismanagement, in the years since Roe collapsed—but as the face of U.S. abortion access it continued to rake in donations. (Most abortions in the US are in fact performed by small "independent" clinics, which are grappling with their own financial turmoil.) As of June 2023, the Planned Parenthood network had about $3 billion in assets, according to its 2024 report.
In March, Planned Parenthood of Greater New York (PPGNY) announced it would put its property that houses the Manhattan Health Center up for sale as part of an "ongoing strategy to ensure future, long-term patient access for underserved communities throughout New York state."
Just two days after U.S. President Donald Trump returned to office in January—following a campaign in which the Republican tried to downplay how much voters care about reproductive rights while also bragging about his role in reversing Roe—Planned Parenthood of Illinois (PPIL) said it would close four health centers, downsize administrative staff, and boost telehealth.
Illinois, a blue state surrounded by red ones, saw an influx of "abortion refugees" post-Dobbs. PPIL interim president and CEO Tonya Tucker said in January that "we made plans for the patient surge, however, rising care costs and lower reimbursement rates from insurers is jeopardizing PPIL's sustainability."
"Unfortunately, this is the reality many other Planned Parenthood affiliates are facing in the rapidly evolving healthcare environment," Tucker added. "We are making the difficult decisions today so we can continue providing care tomorrow and well into the future."
Other recent reporting has also highlighted how reproductive healthcare providers, particularly those that offer abortion, are struggling to stay open, even in places where politicians haven't passed laws that make it harder to end pregnancies.
"At least 17 clinics closed last year in states where abortion remains legal," NPR reported last month, citing the Guttmacher Institute. "Experts say the closures indicate that financial and operational challenges, rather than future legal bans, may be the biggest threats to abortion access in states whose laws still protect it."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular