Organizers of this week’s protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Williston say in their own published materials that the goal is to stop work at the town’s two ICE facilities through the end of the week.
The campaign’s event listing describes a week of action “to stop work for the week” through mass civil disobedience, noise demonstrations, festivals, teach-ins and meditations. The coalition’s media kit says the week will bring mass actions to “stop ICE’s work at their national nerve center.”
That has already moved past the planning stage. On Tuesday, protesters blocked entrances to two Department of Homeland Security buildings in Williston and turned them into temporary community gardens, WCAX reported.
Karen Bixler, a participant in the week of action, told Truthout that activists would “raise hell on every corner of Williston and Burlington for a week.” She said she hoped the protests would keep ICE employees from working.
That goes beyond what protesters were doing Tuesday. “The only facilities that are being blocked off today are these ICE facilities,” protester Calendula Freeman told WCAX.
Organizers expect hundreds of participants and call this week the largest direct confrontation yet aimed at the Williston center, The Intercept reported Wednesday.
Shut Down ICE VT, the coalition organizing the week, did not respond by deadline Wednesday to questions from Compass Vermont. Compass asked what “stop work” means in practice and whether disruption would extend beyond the federal buildings. The group also gives two different end dates: Oct. 9 in its media kit and Oct. 10 on its website.
What’s in Williston
The campaign is aimed at two ICE operations:
The National Criminal Analysis and Targeting Center is in the White Cap Business Park at 426 Industrial Ave. ICE shares the building with other tenants. Analysts there generate leads that ICE officers use to locate and arrest people. The federal government pays White Cap about $860,000 a year to rent its portion, VTDigger reported, citing federal leasing data.
The Law Enforcement Support Center is at 188 Harvest Lane. It runs ICE’s national tip line and answers immigration status checks from police departments around the country.
The media kit says the campaign’s targets are those data centers, not ICE activity generally.
Truthout reported that ICE has access to 340,000 records, and the organizers’ media kit describes the same number as a database of arrest targets. ICE’s own description, on a version of its website updated in February 2025, is different. It said a section of the Law Enforcement Support Center enters and checks ICE’s records in the National Crime Information Center, the FBI-run database police consult during stops. Those records include criminal warrants, administrative warrants and alerts on previously deported felons, and ICE said they typically number more than 340,000.
Where the Legal Line Is
Vermont State Police have said protesters may legally demonstrate in public spaces outside the White Cap building but not inside it, according to ABC22/FOX44. After a February sit-in, state police said private building owners have the right to restrict people from their property, Vermont Public reported. Compass laid out what is and isn’t protected in its explainer on the attorney general’s protest-rights guide.
Prosecutors have split over the earlier blockades:
Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George declined to prosecute protesters arrested in February, May and July. In the February case, she said there was no indication the noise had disrupted other tenants.
Attorney General Charity Clark’s office charged 13 protesters from the July sit-in after state police took those cases to the attorney general instead of George, as Compass reported in September.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office charged five people on Sept. 30 with knowingly obstructing access to the targeting center. Prosecutors say the five used their bodies to block the doors between White Cap’s shared lobby and the ICE office in February, May or July, and ignored orders to disperse. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ophardt said the blockades put the people who work there at risk, including in an emergency, and tied up police. He said his office “will prosecute all those who knowingly obstruct access to federal facilities.” Each defendant faces up to 30 days in jail and a $5,000 fine if convicted. The charges are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent.
The Town of Williston told WCAX it respects people’s right to protest and wants to make sure everyone stays safe. More actions at the ICE facilities are scheduled through the end of the week.
YES!!!