BRATTLEBORO-Recent ICE arrests in Londonderry, Cornwall, and Keene have caused many people here in Brattleboro to be anxious about how our police department and the sheriff will respond if ICE shows up here.
We have a large and valued legal refugee and asylum-seeker population here, mostly hardworking taxpayers, but ICE doesn’t care about their status, only the need to increase their detention numbers. They arrest first and then lawyers are needed to get the refugees due process and have them released.
Our Brattleboro police have been very supportive of peaceful protests here about ICE and No Kings, but the fact that the Keene Police allowed their parking lot to be a staging area for ICE raises concerns. Although Vermont has a Fair and Impartial Policing Policy, it is just that — a policy. It’s not a law, so it can be implemented differently in different towns.
I urge the Selectboard to invite our police chief and the Windham County sheriff to a meeting soon to describe how they plan to respond. This conversation could reassure those of us who have worked with refugees for years and also the many refugees and asylum seekers who live, shop, and work here.
Judy Davidson
Brattleboro
This letter to the editor was submitted to The Commons.
This piece, published in print in the Voices section or as a column in the news sections, represents the opinion of the writer. In the newspaper and on this website, we strive to ensure that opinions are based on fair expression of established fact. In the spirit of transparency and accountability, The Commons is reviewing and developing more precise policies about editing of opinions and our role and our responsibility and standards in fact-checking our own work and the contributions to the newspaper. In the meantime, we heartily encourage civil and productive responses at voices@commonsnews.org.